Question

Amy is generally a well-behaved, polite person, and an avid hockey fan. When her favorite team lost the Stanley Cup, and rioting took to the streets, she participated by engaging in bottle throwing and vandalism. There were thousands of people and Amy's actions went generally unnoticed. What could explain her out-of-character behavior?

Answer 1

Answer: Deindividuation

Explanation:Deindividuation is the loss of an individual's self awareness, characteristics and real personality when found or involved in a group which can lead to a disinhibited behavior.

A person can deindividuates within a non-violent group or a violent group of which the later is a major source of concern. People tend to deindividuates in a crowd because

1) In a group, a certain type of behaviour can be triggered which members of the group will immediately assume

2.Individual actions may be considered anonymous

From the question, Amy's engagement in a destructive action which went unnoticed during a riot which deviated from her generally applauded behaviour explains how people tend to deindividuates when in crowds or groups.