Conformity in the Comfort of Anonymity: A Study on Derogatory Behavior in Social Media
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(1) * Kurrota Aini
Universitas Trunojoyo Madura
Indonesia
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
This research aims to explore how anonymity impacts derogatory behavior among social media users. Through a qualitative method, this study analyzes the behavior of individuals during face-to-face interactions compared to when they use anonymous accounts o social media. The findings indicate that while participants generally behave politely in face-to-face interactions, they frequently adopt and reinforce negative group behaviors on social media when using anonymous accounts. This demonstrates that anonymity strengthens group conformity, leading to negative behavior on social media. This research reveals that anonymity often serves as a shield, enabling individuals to dissociate their online actions from their real-world identities and consequences, thus exacerbating irresponsible behaviors. The study suggests the importance of netiquette and the development of strategies to reduce online anonymity, which are crucial for fostering more responsible interactions on social media.
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Jun. 2018, doi: 10.1111/pops.12439.
[27] D. van Knippenberg, “Developing the social identity theory of leadership: Leader agency in
leader group prototypicality,” Soc Personal Psychol Compass, vol. 17, no. 4, Apr. 2023, doi:
10.1111/spc3.12739.
[28] S. Geber and D. Hefner, “Social norms as communicative phenomena: A communication
perspective on the theory of normative social behavior,” Studies in Communication | Media,
vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 6–28, 2019, doi: 10.5771/2192-4007-2019-1-6.
[29] I. Chaudhry and A. Gruzd, “Expressing and Challenging Racist Discourse on Facebook: How
Social Media Weaken the ‘Spiral of Silence’ Theory,” Policy Internet, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 88–
108, Mar. 2020, doi: 10.1002/poi3.197.
[30] K. Garimella, G. De Francisci Morales, A. Gionis, and M. Mathioudakis, “Political Discourse
on Social Media,” in Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web Conference on World Wide
Web - WWW ’18, New York, New York, USA: ACM Press, 2018, pp. 913–922. doi:
10.1145/3178876.3186139.
[31] N. Lapidot-Lefler and A. Barak, “The benign online disinhibition effect: Could situational
factors induce self-disclosure and prosocial behaviors?,” Cyberpsychology: Journal of
Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, vol. 9, no. 2, Jul. 2015, doi: 10.5817/CP2015-2-3.
[32] M. F. Wright, “Predictors of Anonymous Cyber Aggression: The Role of Adolescents’ Beliefs
About Anonymity, Aggression, and the Permanency of Digital Content,” Cyberpsychol Behav
Soc Netw, vol. 17, no. 7, pp. 431–438, Jul. 2014, doi: 10.1089/cyber.2013.0457.
[33] T. Postmes and R. Spears, “Deindividuation and antinormative behavior: A meta-analysis.,”
Psychol Bull, vol. 123, no. 3, pp. 238–259, May 1998, doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.123.3.238.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
[2] K. Aini, Psikologi Siber: Penganter Interaksi Manusia di Dunia Digital. Purwokerto: PT. Pena
Persada Kerta Utama, 2023.
[3] R. Oktari, “Benarkah Netizen Indonesia Paling Tak Sopan se-Asia?” Accessed: Jun. 20, 2024.
[Online]. Available: https://indonesiabaik.id/infografis/benarkah-netizen-indonesia-palingtak-sopan-se-asia
[4] G. B. D. Saputra, “5 Negara dengan Netizen Paling Tidak Sopan di Dunia, Indonesia Nomor
Berapa Ya?” Accessed: Jun. 20, 2024. [Online]. Available:
https://www.sonora.id/read/423523350/5-negara-dengan-netizen-paling-tidak-sopan-didunia-indonesia-nomor-berapa-ya?page=all
[5] M. Ikhsan, “Riset: Netizen di Indonesia Paling Tak Sopan se-Asia Tenggara.” Accessed: Jun.
20, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/teknologi/20210225115954-
185-610735/riset-netizen-di-indonesia-paling-tak-sopan-se-asia-tenggara
[6] R. Soler-Costa, P. Lafarga-Ostáriz, M. Mauri-Medrano, and A.-J. Moreno-Guerrero,
“Netiquette: Ethic, Education, and Behavior on Internet—A Systematic Literature Review,”
Int J Environ Res Public Health, vol. 18, no. 3, p. 1212, Jan. 2021, doi:
10.3390/ijerph18031212.
[7] N. Lapidot-Lefler and A. Barak, “Effects of anonymity, invisibility, and lack of eye-contact
on toxic online disinhibition,” Comput Human Behav, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 434–443, Mar. 2012,
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2011.10.014.
[8] D. Cho and K. H. Kwon, “The impacts of identity verification and disclosure of social cues on
flaming in online user comments,” Comput Human Behav, vol. 51, pp. 363–372, Oct. 2015,
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.04.046.
[9] J. Suler, “The Online Disinhibition Effect,” CyberPsychology & Behavior, vol. 7, no. 3, pp.
321–326, Jun. 2004, doi: 10.1089/1094931041291295.
[10] R. S. Bhowmick, I. Ganguli, J. Paul, and J. Sil, “A Multimodal Deep Framework for
Derogatory Social Media Post Identification of a Recognized Person,” ACM Transactions on
Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 1–19, Jan.
2022, doi: 10.1145/3447651.
[11] S. Santre, “Cyberbullying in adolescents: a literature review,” Int J Adolesc Med Health, vol.
35, no. 1, pp. 1–7, Mar. 2023, doi: 10.1515/ijamh-2021-0133.
[12] T. Leader, B. Mullen, and D. Rice, “Complexity and valence in ethnophaulisms and exclusion
of ethnic out-groups: What puts the ‘hate’ into hate speech?,” J Pers Soc Psychol, vol. 96, no.
1, pp. 170–182, Jan. 2009, doi: 10.1037/a0013066.
[13] H. Lim and H. Lee, “Cyberbullying: Its Social and Psychological Harms Among Schoolers,”
International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, pp. 25–45, Apr. 2021,
doi: 10.52306/04010321KNSZ7360.
[14] K. Hellfeldt, L. López-Romero, and H. Andershed, “Cyberbullying and Psychological Wellbeing in Young Adolescence: The Potential Protective Mediation Effects of Social Support
from Family, Friends, and Teachers,” Int J Environ Res Public Health, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 45,
Dec. 2019, doi: 10.3390/ijerph17010045.
[15] A. Guiora and E. A. Park, “Hate Speech on Social Media,” Philosophia (Mendoza), vol. 45,
no. 3, pp. 957–971, Sep. 2017, doi: 10.1007/s11406-017-9858-4.
[16] G. Neubaum, L. Rösner, T. Ganster, K. Hambach, and N. C. Krämer, “United in the name of
justice: How conformity processes in social media may influence online vigilantism.,” Psychol
Pop Media Cult, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 185–199, Apr. 2018, doi: 10.1037/ppm0000112.
[17] P. Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. New York:
Random House, 2008.
[18] R. Chen and S. K. Sharma, “Self-disclosure at social networking sites: An exploration through
relational capitals,” Information Systems Frontiers, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 269–278, Apr. 2013,
doi: 10.1007/s10796-011-9335-8.
[19] M. Tsikerdekis, “The effects of perceived anonymity and anonymity states on conformity and
groupthink in online communities: A Wikipedia study,” Journal of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology, vol. 64, no. 5, pp. 1001–1015, May 2013, doi:
10.1002/asi.22795.
[20] L. J. Moleong, Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif. Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya, 2005.
[21] R. M. Kowalski, G. W. Giumetti, A. N. Schroeder, and M. R. Lattanner, “Bullying in the digital
age: A critical review and meta-analysis of cyberbullying research among youth.,” Psychol
Bull, vol. 140, no. 4, pp. 1073–1137, Jul. 2014, doi: 10.1037/a0035618.
[22] P. G. Zimbardo and M. R. Leippe, The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence,
1st ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.
[23] A. Marwick and danah boyd, “‘It’s just drama’: teen perspectives on conflict and aggression
in a networked era,” J Youth Stud, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 1187–1204, Oct. 2014, doi:
10.1080/13676261.2014.901493.
[24] P. G. Zimbardo, “he Human Choice: Individuation Reason and Order versus Deindividuation
Impulse and Chaos,” in Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, vol. 17, W. J. Arnold and D.
Devine, Eds., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1969, pp. 237–307.
[25] O. Klein, R. Spears, and S. Reicher, “Social Identity Performance: Extending the Strategic
Side of SIDE,” Personality and Social Psychology Review, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 28–45, Feb.
2007, doi: 10.1177/1088868306294588.
[26] P. Vasilopoulos, G. E. Marcus, and M. Foucault, “Emotional Responses to the Charlie Hebdo
Attacks: Addressing the Authoritarianism Puzzle,” Polit Psychol, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 557–575,
Jun. 2018, doi: 10.1111/pops.12439.
[27] D. van Knippenberg, “Developing the social identity theory of leadership: Leader agency in
leader group prototypicality,” Soc Personal Psychol Compass, vol. 17, no. 4, Apr. 2023, doi:
10.1111/spc3.12739.
[28] S. Geber and D. Hefner, “Social norms as communicative phenomena: A communication
perspective on the theory of normative social behavior,” Studies in Communication | Media,
vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 6–28, 2019, doi: 10.5771/2192-4007-2019-1-6.
[29] I. Chaudhry and A. Gruzd, “Expressing and Challenging Racist Discourse on Facebook: How
Social Media Weaken the ‘Spiral of Silence’ Theory,” Policy Internet, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 88–
108, Mar. 2020, doi: 10.1002/poi3.197.
[30] K. Garimella, G. De Francisci Morales, A. Gionis, and M. Mathioudakis, “Political Discourse
on Social Media,” in Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web Conference on World Wide
Web - WWW ’18, New York, New York, USA: ACM Press, 2018, pp. 913–922. doi:
10.1145/3178876.3186139.
[31] N. Lapidot-Lefler and A. Barak, “The benign online disinhibition effect: Could situational
factors induce self-disclosure and prosocial behaviors?,” Cyberpsychology: Journal of
Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, vol. 9, no. 2, Jul. 2015, doi: 10.5817/CP2015-2-3.
[32] M. F. Wright, “Predictors of Anonymous Cyber Aggression: The Role of Adolescents’ Beliefs
About Anonymity, Aggression, and the Permanency of Digital Content,” Cyberpsychol Behav
Soc Netw, vol. 17, no. 7, pp. 431–438, Jul. 2014, doi: 10.1089/cyber.2013.0457.
[33] T. Postmes and R. Spears, “Deindividuation and antinormative behavior: A meta-analysis.,”
Psychol Bull, vol. 123, no. 3, pp. 238–259, May 1998, doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.123.3.238.
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Published
2024-07-23
How to Cite
Aini, K. (2024). Conformity in the Comfort of Anonymity: A Study on Derogatory Behavior in Social Media. Procedia of Social Sciences and Humanities, 6, 180-190. https://doi.org/10.21070/pssh.v6i.545
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