Individual in a group setting

In the last byte, we looked at how group cohesion and social loafing influence group behavior. In today's byte, we look at how the aspect of loss of individuality in groups and see how this affects group behavior.

We had defined "loss of individuality" as a social process in which individual group members lose self-awareness and its accompanying sense of accountability, inhibition, and responsibility for individual behavior. It is also called "deindividuation".

You would notice that individual group members wouldn’t have a sense of accountability/inhibition or responsibility for their behavior - this could have potentially catastrophic influence. People could engage in morally reprehensible acts and sometimes even violence. Research has noted that - loosening of normal ego control mechanisms in an individual could also lead to a prosocial behavior and one expect heroic acts even in dangerous situations. There could also be the other dimension of a negative impact also seen due to such behavior - in mob scenarios.

What is important it to note that - a group that successfully develops into a mature group may not encounter the issues with the loss of individual identity? What is important is the way the culture of a group gets established.