Hypothesis

Anonymous online environments will lead to users portraying more negative personality traits and observing (or creating) more instances of negative interactions when compared to non-anonymous online environments.

Outline

Relevancy of Anonymity Online

• User support for online anonymity
  • Rosenberry, 2011.
• Why online anonymity is considered valuable
  • Akdeniz, 2002.
• Research Hypothesis

Anonymity’s Impact on Online Behaviour

• Discipline continues to play a role in online behaviour
  • Guo & Yu, 2020.
• Users feel less social anxiety when anonymous
  • Joinson, 1999.
• Users experience less communication apprehension online
  • Hammick & Lee, 2014.
• Repressing “the Ought self” leads to higher user satisfaction online
  • Hu, et al., 2020
• Online gamers are more likely to cheat when they are anonymous
  • Chen & Wu, 2015.
• Machiavellianism and psychopathy are found more often when users are anonymous
  • Carcioppolo & Petit, 2020.
• Anonymity affects performance and stress levels online
  • Le Hénaff, 2015.
• In certain contexts, users may be more comfortable in non-anonymous environments
  • Muhlenfeld, 2005.

Methodology

• Two participant groups of equal size and age, composed of half male and half female members.
• One group will participate in an online forum where identities are kept anonymous for one month.
• The other group will participate in an online forum where the identities of all members are available for one month.
• After the one-month period, the groups will be reassigned usernames (so that they cannot track each other’s identities between the environments), and the groups will switch from non-anonymous to anonymous and from anonymous to non-anonymous.
• After one month in the new environments, all participants will be asked to complete a survey.

Discussion

• Potential for future studies
  • Groups consisting of only a single gender
  • Differing age groups
  • Mixed age groups
  • Larger samples
  • Different online environments (games, virtual reality rooms, etc.)
• Weaknesses of Study
  • The possible influence of individuals’ personalities outside of the online environment
• Strengths of Study
  • The individuals will be studied in both environments and be able to provide commentary on both.
• Importance of understanding human behaviour and how it differs in an online environment.