Internet identifiability and beyond: a model of the effects of identifiability on communicative behavior

Douglas, K.M. and McGarty, C. (2002) Internet identifiability and beyond: a model of the effects of identifiability on communicative behavior. Group Dynamics, 6 (1). pp. 17-26.

Abstract

K. Douglas and C. McGarty (2001) demonstrated that being identifiable to an in-group audience in a computer-mediated communication (CMC) setting leads people to describe anonymous out-group targets in more abstract or stereotypical ways. On the basis of these findings and the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE; S. Reicher, R. Spears, & T. Postmes, 1995), the authors aimed to test a model of the effects of identifiability on communicative behavior in and beyond CMC. Participants in 3 studies, 1 CMC and 2 pen and paper, were asked to write responses to controversial messages. In all 3 studies, communicators who were identifiable to an in-group audience used more stereotypical language to describe anonymous out-group targets. Studies 2 and 3 suggested that rather than being strategic, this may result from more subtle or implicit communicative processes.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Psychology
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Copyright:	Educational Publishing Foundation
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/3154

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