Diffused responsibility makes people act more cruelly than individual accountability

Evidence

The preceding disinhibitory processes are rooted in a reduction of perceived social sanctions. Amid many players acting together, one easily can discount one’s contribution to the harm perpetrated by the group. As a consequence, people act more cruelly when responsibility is diffused than when they hold themselves accountable for the effects of their actions. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 436

Categorization

• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 436
• XREF: connects to: Ethical appeals to individual responsibility let impersonal structures evade accountability — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 139; Bureaucratic officials derive enjoyment from disavowing personal responsibility — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 100