There is a powerful scene in the classic film, To Kill a Mockingbird; Atticus Finch, a small town lawyer, is on the courthouse steps standing guard over Tom Robinson, an African-American prisoner whom he is defending.A mob of townspeople and local farmers approaches the courthouse, demanding that Atticus turn over Robinson; they are intent on administering their own form of vigilante justice.Suddenly, Atticus's young daughter Scout steps forward.She doesn't understand what's about to happen, and begins to address people in the crowd, "Hey, Mr.Cunningham.How's your boy? I like Walter, but I haven't seen him in awhile." As Scout innocently addresses a number of individuals in the crowd, they begin to leave one by one, until the whole lynch mob is disbanded.Scout's behavior disrupts the ________ that might have led to a lynching.

Question

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Deindividuation is a phenomenon that occurs when people lose their sense of individual identity and responsibility and become part of a group, which can lead to a loss of self-awareness and a willingness to engage in destructive or antisocial behavior. In this case, the lynch mob was exhibiting deindividuation in their willingness to conduct a lynching. However, Scout's innocent behavior disrupted the deindividuation of the mob and caused them to leave, preventing the lynching from occurring.

There Is a Powerful Scene in the Classic Film, to Kill