Final answer:
Anonymity increases aggression by reducing personal responsibility, as shown in scenarios such as Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment and cyberbullying. Deindividuation leads to less accountability, prompting behavior that might not occur if one were easily identified.
Step-by-step explanation:
Zimbardo claims that people's aggression can increase when they feel anonymous because anonymity provides a sense that one's actions cannot be individually pinpointed, thereby reducing personal responsibility. This is because anonymity can lead to a phenomenon known as deindividuation, where people feel less accountability and a diminished sense of self when their actions are not directly tied back to them. This absence of personal responsibility can embolden individuals to act in ways they may not if they were easily identified, leading to an increase in aggression towards others.
The Stanford Prison Experiment, led by Philip Zimbardo, is a prime example of how assimilation into a group and the accompanying anonymity can lead to aggressive behavior. As part of a simulated prison environment, participants quickly escalated in aggression due to the roles they were playing, being detached from their usual identities.
Anonymity in various forms such as in crowds, cyberbullying, or online interactions, often results in more aggressive or rude behaviors due to decreased fear of retribution or shame, confirming the importance of personal ownership of actions in curbing aggressive behavior.