Group anonymity and emotional arousal override individual moral judgment

Evidence

Collective action is the third form of moral disinhibition through diffused responsibility. Several psychosocial processes are at work. Collective action adds legitimacy to harmful means, especially if supported by principled justifications (Bandura, 1973). Enmeshment in group action fueled by mounting emotional arousal can override cognitive control. In highly aroused states, individuals are prone to act impulsively with little thought about the consequences of their actions. Group actions also provide a sense of anonymity (Zimbardo, 1969). As long as one remains personally unrecognizable, one need have little concern for adverse social evaluation. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 435

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment and Le Bon’s crowd psychology — the anonymous crowd as moral dissolver. — connects to: Solidarity degenerates into fear-driven obedience when followers forfeit independent judgment; Crowd psychology lowers individual responsibility and boosts influence susceptibility — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 399; Conflict escalation alters even retrospective moral judgments of past in-group harms. — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt: Modes…, 86 (+2 more)