How is Online Disinhibition Related to Adolescents’ Cyberbullying Perpetration? Empathy and Gender as Moderators

The present study examined the relationship between online disinhibition and adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration and investigated whether empathy and gender would moderate this relationship. A total of 2407 Chinese adolescents aged 11–16 years completed the questionnaires to measure their online disinhibition, empathy, and cyberbullying perpetration. Results indicated that high levels of online disinhibition were associated with high levels of cyberbullying perpetration, even after controlling for key covariates related to cyberbullying perpetration. Empathy significantly moderated the relationship between online disinhibition and cyberbullying perpetration. Specifically, this relationship was not significant at high levels of empathy. Moreover, the impact of empathy was moderated by gender. For male adolescents, online disinhibition was significantly associated with cyberbullying perpetration only when their empathy was low. For female adolescents, the relationship between online disinhibition and cyberbullying perpetration became nonsignificant, regardless of whether they had a low or high level of empathy.

Understanding Online Disinhibition: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Information and Communication Technology and Adolescent Personality, Identity, and Behaviour

<p>A series of investigations were carried out to gain a better understanding of the influence of adolescent personality and identity in predicting online disinhibition. Taking a person-centred approach, the thesis tested whether distinct youth profiles of information and communication technology usage preferences, as well as unique motives of Internet use, would emerge among two adolescent samples; and second, whether these distinct profiles were significantly associated with maladaptive outcomes of personality, identity, and offline and online behaviour. In addition, this thesis also included a specific investigation of the predictive effects of the dark personality traits of narcissism, sadism, and psychopathy on self-perceptions, online disinhibition, and cyber aggression. Study 1 involved two major objectives, first, by using a sample of 933 adolescents, it aimed to identify groups of adolescents who share similar communication technology use habits based on their time spent interacting with various digital communication devices and associated online platforms. Results indicated four distinct profiles of technology use preferences. The second objective of Study 1 was to investigate the degree to which these distinct usage preferences predicted indicators of maladaptive identity and offline behaviours. Most notably, immoral behaviours and compromised identity outcomes were found to be highest among those adolescents who displayed a preference for elevated communication technology use. Overall, the findings illustrate that important constructs of both identity and behaviour are associated with individual communication technology usage preferences. Employing a large sample of 709 adolescents (Mage = 15.56 years), Study 2 was constructed to explore the direct effects of narcissism, sadism, psychopathy, and false self perceptions on online disinhibition and cyber aggression. Path model results indicated that all three dark personality traits, as well as false self, were positively associated with online disinhibition. Second, potential relationships among the dark personality traits, false self perceptions, online disinhibition, and cyber aggression were also examined, and psychopathy, sadistic traits, and online disinhibition were found to be significant predictors of aggressive online behaviour chiefly through indirect effects through false self and online disinhibition. The Study 2 findings collectively provide a more nuanced understanding of how antisocial personality traits are associated with maladaptive identity formation as well as online disinhibition. Finally, in Study 3, using latent profile analysis, distinct group differences behind adolescent motivations (as opposed to Internet habits studied in Study 1) for Internet and social media use were explored. In addition, we examined how personality, false self perceptions, and online disinhibition differed as a function of these motivation classes. Results revealed three discernable profiles of Internet and social media motives where adolescents either exhibited high, medium, or low levels of motives for engaging with the online world. Notably, self-report levels of sadism, perceptions of false self, and online disinhibition were highest among adolescents belonging to the group of youth who exhibited the highest overall motivations for Internet and social media use. In combination, these studies illustrate the importance of considering adolescents as active and decisive consumers of various ICT outlets, as well as online content and platform selection. The thesis highlights how particularly high online engagement is associated with high levels of dysfunctional identity and behaviour, and how personality underlies unique motives to engage with particular online content. The thesis findings also highlight the important role identity construction may play in media selection and engagement, and how a breakdown in identity formation can result in an increase in poor behavioural control online. In conclusion, the study results illuminate that not all engagement with the online world is detrimental to youth, but rather individual characteristics of a developing teen (i.e., personality factors) can predispose adolescents to the online disinhibition effect.</p>

Understanding Online Disinhibition: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Information and Communication Technology and Adolescent Personality, Identity, and Behaviour

<p>A series of investigations were carried out to gain a better understanding of the influence of adolescent personality and identity in predicting online disinhibition. Taking a person-centred approach, the thesis tested whether distinct youth profiles of information and communication technology usage preferences, as well as unique motives of Internet use, would emerge among two adolescent samples; and second, whether these distinct profiles were significantly associated with maladaptive outcomes of personality, identity, and offline and online behaviour. In addition, this thesis also included a specific investigation of the predictive effects of the dark personality traits of narcissism, sadism, and psychopathy on self-perceptions, online disinhibition, and cyber aggression. Study 1 involved two major objectives, first, by using a sample of 933 adolescents, it aimed to identify groups of adolescents who share similar communication technology use habits based on their time spent interacting with various digital communication devices and associated online platforms. Results indicated four distinct profiles of technology use preferences. The second objective of Study 1 was to investigate the degree to which these distinct usage preferences predicted indicators of maladaptive identity and offline behaviours. Most notably, immoral behaviours and compromised identity outcomes were found to be highest among those adolescents who displayed a preference for elevated communication technology use. Overall, the findings illustrate that important constructs of both identity and behaviour are associated with individual communication technology usage preferences. Employing a large sample of 709 adolescents (Mage = 15.56 years), Study 2 was constructed to explore the direct effects of narcissism, sadism, psychopathy, and false self perceptions on online disinhibition and cyber aggression. Path model results indicated that all three dark personality traits, as well as false self, were positively associated with online disinhibition. Second, potential relationships among the dark personality traits, false self perceptions, online disinhibition, and cyber aggression were also examined, and psychopathy, sadistic traits, and online disinhibition were found to be significant predictors of aggressive online behaviour chiefly through indirect effects through false self and online disinhibition. The Study 2 findings collectively provide a more nuanced understanding of how antisocial personality traits are associated with maladaptive identity formation as well as online disinhibition. Finally, in Study 3, using latent profile analysis, distinct group differences behind adolescent motivations (as opposed to Internet habits studied in Study 1) for Internet and social media use were explored. In addition, we examined how personality, false self perceptions, and online disinhibition differed as a function of these motivation classes. Results revealed three discernable profiles of Internet and social media motives where adolescents either exhibited high, medium, or low levels of motives for engaging with the online world. Notably, self-report levels of sadism, perceptions of false self, and online disinhibition were highest among adolescents belonging to the group of youth who exhibited the highest overall motivations for Internet and social media use. In combination, these studies illustrate the importance of considering adolescents as active and decisive consumers of various ICT outlets, as well as online content and platform selection. The thesis highlights how particularly high online engagement is associated with high levels of dysfunctional identity and behaviour, and how personality underlies unique motives to engage with particular online content. The thesis findings also highlight the important role identity construction may play in media selection and engagement, and how a breakdown in identity formation can result in an increase in poor behavioural control online. In conclusion, the study results illuminate that not all engagement with the online world is detrimental to youth, but rather individual characteristics of a developing teen (i.e., personality factors) can predispose adolescents to the online disinhibition effect.</p>

Online Disinhibition: Reconsideration of the Construct

On the Internet, behaviors that differ from those in real-life situations sometimes appear. The online disinhibition theory, pioneered by Suler(2004), has been frequently cited in empirical studies as a theory to explain this mechanism. However, the construct of online disinhibition has not yet reached a consensus. This study aimed to explore an appropriate construct of online disinhibition for psychological research, and propose a model to explain how online disinhibition works. First, we pointed out that previous studies have dealt with online disinhibition from three perspectives. After discussing contributions and limitations of each perspective, we argued that psychological research had better to deal with online disinhibition from the perspective of mental state. Next, we reviewed three significant models about how online disinhibition works: the “benign/toxic disinhibition model”, the “online disinhibition/ behaviors model”, and the “online disinhibition and deindividuation model”. Finally, in order to solve the limitations of these models, we proposed the “motivation-based online disinhibition model”, as an improved model.

Politics and Politeness: Analysis of Incivility on Twitter During the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary

In the past decade, social networking sites have become central forums for public discourse and political engagement. Of particular interest is the role that Twitter plays in the facilitation of political discourse. To this end, the existing literature argues that a healthy political discussion space is key to maintaining a trusting and robust democratic society. Using Suler’s online disinhibition effect as a theoretical orientation, this study seeks to address the extent of incivility on Twitter in discourse regarding the top three 2020 Democratic primary candidates. A total corpus of 18,237,296 tweets was analyzed in an effort to assess the extent to which incivility dominated Twitter discourse surrounding these candidates. Our results reveal that tweets that mention Senator Elizabeth Warren were associated with higher levels of uncivil discourse than tweets that mentioned Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden. Interestingly, there does not appear to be a relationship with anonymity and incivility, as uncivil tweets were just as likely to originate from tweets that identified users’ names as they were to originate from anonymous or pseudonymous accounts. Finally, our findings provide evidence that certain policy issues are more closely related to uncivil discourse than others. Through the use of k-means clustering, our findings illustrate that the issue of gun control and immigration is closely related with mentions of Warren and fiscal policy with Sanders; however, we did not find any policy keywords linked to Biden.

Self-disclosure in Online versus “Face-to-Face” Counseling: A Survey among Clients (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Research proves the effectiveness of psychological interventions in online settings. There is some evidence that people disclose more personal information online than in real life, however, the results appear inconsistent. OBJECTIVE The primary aim was to find out whether people in online counseling disclosed more than individuals receiving “face-to-face” counseling, whether there were differences between the two settings in regard to counseling outcome and whether people in online counseling disclosed more about the counseling to confidants. METHODS A survey was carried out in various counseling centers offering both online and “face-to-face” services. The Disclosure to Therapist Inventory-VI was used to assess the amount of self-disclosure in both settings. Clients’ attitudes towards revealing counseling aspects to other people in their lives were assessed using the Disclosure About Therapy Inventory. In total N= 80 respondents completed the survey, 31 participants received online counseling (38.8%), 49 people had “face-to-face“ counseling (61.3%). RESULTS Contradicting the hypothesis, the present study disproved the assumption that self-disclosure is higher in online counseling. Whereas both samples showed similar levels of disclosure on different counseling topics, clients in “face-to-face” situations revealed significantly more about two topics: self-actualization vs. adaptation (P= .010, d= 0.6) and self-doubt/shortcomings (P= .003, r= 0.33). Two treatment characteristics, namely counseling duration and motives affected the degree of disclosure. In regard to the counseling outcome participants were moderately satisfied in both groups. People in “face-to-face” counseling reported significantly better treatment outcome in regard to the increased capacity to relate well to others (P= .026, r= 0.25). The assumption that a higher level of self-disclosure is associated with better treatment outcomes was verified only for online counseling (P= .024, ß= .470). Clients in both settings disclosed moderately about aspects of their counseling to confidants with no significant differences between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS The present study could not prove the online disinhibition effect for the counseling setting. As the number of studies conducted on this topic is relatively small the present study calls for further research on larger samples. Thereby, incongruities on self-disclosure can be clarified, possibly leading to the revision of current theories or the development of new ones.

Disinhibisi Online sebagai Mediator Hubungan antara Kebingungan Identitas dan Cyberbullying pada Remaja

Cyberbullying behavior utilized the use of digital technology and the internet as a medium for bullying. The purpose of this study was to examine the function of online disinhibition as a mediator of the relationship between identity confusion and cyberbullying in adolescents. Participants in the study were 12 to 15 years old or adolescents, which consisted of 151 men and 196 women. Data collection was performed using 3 scales namely the Cyberbullying Behavior Scale, the identity confusion scale, and the online disinhibition scale. The data obtained were tested using regression analysis with mediator variable with the help of IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0. The results showed that there was an effect of online disinhibition mediation on the relationship of identity confusion with cyberbullying. The result of MacKinnon analysis shows that the direct effect gives a bigger effect than the indirect effect.The results of the additional analysis show that males do more cyberbullying behavior; the higher the duration of internet and social media use, the more cyberbullying behavior that will be carried out by adolescents. These results indicated that adolescents and cyberbullying have many factors that required further research.Keywords: Cyberbullying, online disinhibition, identity confusion, adolescents Abstrak: Perilaku cyberbullying memanfaatkan penggunaan teknologi digital dan internet sebagai media untuk melakukan aksi bullying. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menguji fungsi disinhibisi online sebagai mediator hubungan antara kebingungan identitas dan cyberbullying pada remaja. Partisipan dalam penelitian berusia 12 sampai dengan 15 tahun atau remaja yang terdiri dari 151 laki-laki dan 196 perempuan. Pengumpulan data dilakukan menggunakan 3 skala yaitu Skala Perilaku Cyberbullying, Skala kebingungan identitas, dan Skala disinhibisi online. Data yang diperoleh diuji menggunakan analisis regresi dengan melibatkan variabel mediator dengan bantuan IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ada pengaruh mediasi disinhibisi online pada hubungan kebingungan identitas dengan cyberbullying. Perhitungan peranan menggunakan MacKinnon diperoleh hasil bahwa efek langsung memberikan peran lebih besar dibandingkan efek tidak langsung. Hasil analisis tambahan menunjukkan bahwa laki-laki lebih banyak melakukan perilaku cyberbullying; semakin tinggi durasi penggunaan internet dan sosial media semakin banyak pula perilaku cyberbullying yang akan dilakukan remaja. Hasil ini menunjukkan bahwa remaja dan cyberbullying memiliki banyak faktor yang memerlukan penelitian lanjutan.