Rusine si deindividualizare. O abordare experimentalã
Shame and deindividualization. An experimental approach

Summary/Abstract: Deindividualization - the psychological process through which individuals transgress social norms when they cannot be identified - was revealed by several experimental studies. Most of these studies explored the contextual factors (such as darkness, wearing masks or uniforms) and structural factors (i.e. the place occupied by the individual in a large group) that favor the process of deindividualization. However, few experiments concentrated on the individual factors influencing the process, although reality shows that different individuals react differently, based on their personal characteristics, even when they find themselves in the same deindividualizing situation. This study proposes an experimental design that explores the role that shame (as an individual factor) plays in explaining the process of deindividualization. In order to measure subjects' disposition to feel shame (35 students from the Faculty of Sociology, University of Bucharest) we used the Behavior Self-Evaluation Test, an adaptation of the TOSCA - A Scale, elaborated by June Price Tangney et al. in 1991. During the experiment, the subjects were invited to participate in an action involving a shame generating situation, and were asked to name the conditions under which they agree to participate. Our study is the first application of the TOSCA Scale in Romania and offers one of the few researches of the deindividualization process that start from individual factors. The study is part of the research project "The social emotions: shame and guilt in the Romanian public space after December 1989" coordinated by Professor Septimiu Chelcea, PhD.

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