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Playing for a traveling soccer team was always a fun time for me growing up in Washington, D. C. We had practice one night a week on a big lighted field. We would all be car-pooled there and dropped off. On one occasion the lights went out in the middle of our practice, and complete pandemonium broke out amongst our team. The behavior was violent but not out of spite for anyone.
What ensued was the biggest game of rugby/ football/ soccer any of us had ever played. It was a riot during our practice. Furthermore, it took place in complete darkness. There was a little light coming from the basketball courts about a fields length away, but otherwise, it was pitch black. Everyone on our team began running around and tackling each other. Our scrimmage went on with a complete loss of all the rules.
You could pick up the ball, punt it, tackle someone, or pretty much whatever else you wanted to do. The coach had not shown up yet so there was no one to stop us. It was all in fun and games so no one was hurt, but it was a loss of behavioral constraint and a perfect example of a group process leading to de individuation. What happened this night of practice was a complete loss of control of behavior. It was in part due to the behavior of the group, but in addition was the fact that situational cues had changed.
The lights going out allowed us to act in an inappropriate way. The size of the team was about 15 to 20 kids. We were all middle school students and the chance to misbehave and goof off was irresistible. The group norm behavior was violent for what a typical soccer practice was like, so the behavior was a negative one in that respect.
De individuation occurred and led to increased arousal in two ways. First, the lights shutting off allowed us all some bit of anonymity. With no lights it was hard to recognize who was who. Second, we were in a large group where we could lose our sense of individual behavior regardless of the environment. These two factors contributed to our violent behavior when there was no reason for it.
Furthermore, this is why everyone partook in the behavior. The loss of accountability cues took away most self-consciousness because we could not be recognized or held accountable with each other. We were more violent because of this than we would have been merely playing an organized tackle football game during the day. We were not wearing uniforms because it was only a practice, however, it is safe to say the outcome would have been more destructive had we all been dressed the same because of the study by Rehm, Steinleitner and Lilli in 1987.
Our behavior was self-reinforced because everyone was acting the same and because we knew that no one person was going to get in trouble. Our self-awareness was blocked also because of the large group size and because of the black out from the lights. All in all it was a practice unlike any other I have seen and one to remember.
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Research essay sample on Behavior Was Violent Complete Loss Practice
