Computer Mediated Communciations

With the advent of the internet and the increasingly common use of computers to communicate with others (Christopherson 2007), Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Social Media have become imperative to study in a social psychological context. In regards to CMC, it has been postulated that the absence of social feedback and social context information might lead to uninhibited behaviour, as these gaps may not yet have been replaced by shared norms for either conveying or interpreting the social meaning of communication (Siegel, Dubrovsky, Kiesler & Mcguire 1986). We propose that the anonymity of CMC is enabling individuals who otherwise engage in normatively prosocial behaviour to engage in antisocial, antinormative behaviour. This occurs through the processes of deindividuation and depersonalisation. Furthermore, this behaviour will be affected by the salient norm; antinormative and antisocial behaviour will occur when an antisocial norm is salient, whereas prosocial behaviour will be engaged in when a prosocial norm is salient.

Classical deindividuation theory, such as that proposed by Festinger, Pepitone, and Newcomb in 1952 and further elaborated on by Zimbardo in 1969, involves an examination of the effects of anonymity within the group, in which individuals are not "seen or paid attention to as individuals" (Festinger et al., 1952, p. 382). Deindividuation theory proposes that when an individual is both submerged and anonymous while in a group, a state of reduced self-awareness and loss of individuality can result, resulting in transgressions of the general societal norms (Postmes & Spears, 1998). This state of deindividuation can result in antinormative and antisocial behaviour regarding others, as being unidentified o...

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