The role of groups and social influence

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1. Discuss the role of groups and social influence.

Let's look at each section, which you can consider for your final copy. I also attached one informative article on individuation that expands on the first section, which it is drawn from.

1. Lynch Mobs- Deindividuation

According to deindividuation theory, deindividuation is a psychological state aroused when individuals join crowds or large groups. DEINDIVIDEATION state is characterized by diminished awareness of self and individuality. In turn, it reduces an individual's self-monitoring, self-restraint and normative regulation of behavior. In fact, in social psychology, deindividuation is a major theory of group behavior. It helps explain collective behavior, such as violent crowds, mindless hooligans, or the lynch mob mentality. In addition, the state of deindividuation has been linked to other social phenomena, including g stereotyping, genocide and disinhibition in other settings such as computer-mediated communication (http://people.exeter.ac.uk/tpostmes/deindividuation.html).

Lynch mobs are groups of people who systematically engage in lynching other groups that differ from them, which can be explained through individuation and stereotyping certain groups as inferior. For example, lynching was common in early United States history in the couth and northern states. In this context, one way to define Lynching is "a systematic localized expression of western imperialism when wedded to mob driven political terrorism, was commonly practiced as an accepted form of suppressing human beings of African descent engaged in resisting overwhelming injustice and outright tyranny in America" (Stover, 2009).

For example, the first lynching against African Americans was that of Claude Neal in Marianna, Florida in 1934. This lynching had affected the nation's "accepting" attitude toward lynching. "Claude Neal, a young black man, was lynched after confessing to the murder of Lola Cannidy. The methods used to extract the confession cast doubt on its validity. Ms. Cannidy, a young white neighbor, was supposedly having an affair with Neal. To ensure Claude's safety he was kept in an Alabama jail. The lynch mob took him from the authorities and subjected him to ten hours of excruciating torture involving castration and self-cannibalism before he was put to death. As Neal's castrated body hung from the tree a photograph was taken from which a post card was made. Neal's fingers were sold as souvenirs to the bloodthirsty crowd who arrived to late to witness the gory festivities" (http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1989/1/89.01.09.x.html).

Lynching is now against the law i.e. felony in the United States, defined by some codes of law as "Any act of violence inflicted by a mob upon the body of another person which results in the death of the person," with a 'mob' being defined as "the assemblage of two or more persons, without color or authority of law, for the premeditated purpose and with the premeditated intent of committing an act of violence upon the person of another." Lynching in the second degree is defined as "Any act of violence inflicted by a mob upon the body of another person and from which death does not result." (http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t16c003.htm)

2. Uninvolved Bystanders- Diffusion and ...