Podcast Atlas
concept Updated 2026-07-24 Topics: Science

Deindividuation / 去个体化

Deindividuation / 去个体化 is the source’s concept for what happens when a person stops experiencing themselves, or the target, as a concrete individual and instead acts inside anonymity, group identity, arousal, or responsibility diffusion. 123.人性实验：当心你自己！ connects Le Bon, Leon Festinger / 利昂·费斯廷格, Philip Zimbardo / 菲利普·津巴多, a masked shock experiment, and a Halloween candy experiment to online abuse and collective cruelty.

The episode treats deindividuation as a risk condition rather than a personality type. Darkness, masks, crowding, group language, anonymity, and perceived righteousness can reduce self-awareness and make another person’s pain less visible.

145.嫉妒与鄙视：我该如何躲避这双向的毒箭？ adds a comparison route into the same risk. When envy or contempt is shared inside a group, the target can become a status symbol, enemy category, or joke object rather than a concrete person, making online punishment easier to join.

Key Claims

  • Group membership and anonymity can change behavior without changing a person’s underlying moral vocabulary.
  • Responsibility diffusion makes small violations easier and can escalate when the group normalizes them.
  • Online environments can reproduce deindividuation through avatars, handles, swarm language, and fast collective judgment.
  • The most dangerous form is when discomfort is suppressed by a feeling of justice.
  • Comparison adds another route: envy and contempt can reduce both self-awareness and target-specific empathy.

Connections