Human behaviors and social norms are transferred to the Internet in complex and divergent ways. The term online disinhibition has been coined to describe situations when Internet users seem to behave more openly and unrestrained online, often acting in ways they would not dare to act in the face-to-face world. According to Suler, there is a need for future research to "focus on which people, under what circumstances, are more predisposed to the various elements of online disinhibition." With this in mind, this descriptive study sought to determine whether or not people are more true to their authentic psychological identities (i.e., genders) during online interaction or create completely new identities because of the more permissive social norms created by cyberspace. Through video recorded face-to-face discussions, reflective online discussions, open-ended online surveys, and semi-structured interviews, qualitative data was collected for analysis. The results and findings demonstrated that some personality traits are magnified during online interaction, but individuals ultimately stay true to their established gender roles.

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Studien handlar om högstadiekurators subjektiva uppfattning när det kommer till ansvarsfördelning, utvecklingen av nätmobbning samt eventuella könsskillnader kopplat till nätmobbning. Studien har en ansats i tematisk analys och den utgjordes av temana utveckling, ansvar och könskillnader. Det blev även tydligt att högstadiekuratorerna oberoende av kön, ålder och erfarenhet hade likande uppfattning om fenomenet nätmobbning. Teorierna som används i denna studie är The online disinhibition effect och Social konstruktionism kopplat till genus och identitet. / Nej

It can be observed that the anti-normative behaviors occur more frequently in Computer-Mediated-Communication than in face-to-face communication. Internet often let people feel less restraint to use rude or threatening language, leashing harsh criticisms, venting anger or hatred. Thus, the issues surrounding ¡§Toxic Disinhibition¡¨ have attracted more and more concern from society and academia. Our empirical study tries to get the whole picture and proposed a more comprehensive model integrating diverse factors and involving the synthesis of different viewpoints. Accordingly, this paper proceeds to examine and integrate the two important aspects, (1) Internet attributes in which reduced social cue, social presence, controllability, and the fluidity of the identity and (2) psychological state, especially theories of deindividuation.Moreover, different from most prior researches, we consider deindividuation as an important mediating role, not just an antecedent of toxic disinhibition. An empirical survey methodology is applied to test the research model and six hypotheses are developed in this study, and then we use PLS to analyze it. Our empirical results showed that the essential mediating role of deindividuation, also confirming the highly significant with toxic disinhibition. Moreover, we identify major factors that may affect deindividuation. We find that except for reduced social cue, reduced social presence, controllability and fluidity of identity also has significant impact on deindividuation, and then cause toxic disinhibition. In sum, unlike much prior research that has focused on only a limited aspect of toxic disinhibition, we take integrated view and proposed a more comprehensive model therefore be useful to a better understanding of the nature of toxic disinhibition. And this study provides some suggestions for the online disinhibition research.

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Allt fler i världen spelar onlinespel, men i samma takt ökar även antalet spelare som utsätts för trakasserier online. Den reducerade återhållsamhet individer känner inför att yttra sig online jämfört med vid fysiskt samtal kallas för the Online disinhibition effect, översatt till avhämningseffekten. Denna studie undersöker huruvida det går att reducera negativ påverkan av avhämningseffekten, så kallad elakartad avhämning, i onlinespel eftersom att spelare som påverkas av den är mer benägna att kommunicera trakasserier och glåpord. Frågan är av intresse för spelföretag med online-chatt; att förhindra trakasserier och glåpord skulle innebära att företag behöver lägga mindre resurser på moderering. Dessutom är frågan av intresse för privatpersoner som chattar online eftersom att deras välbefinnande skulle öka om den sociala spel-miljön blev bättre. En interaktiv pop-up utformades och testades i frågesportspelet Primetime. Pop-up:en syftade till att reducera elakartad avhämning hos spelarna. Inledningsvis hade vi fokus på att minska känslan av anonymitet, med färgval och emoticons som stärker ett lugnande budskap. Vi genomförde därefter ett A/B-test där spelomgångar utan pop-up jämfördes med spelomgångar med pop-up. Skillnaderna analyserades genom att vi mätte innehåll och kvantitet av meddelanden i Primetimes blockordsfunktion. Blockordsfunktionen samlar in de chattmeddelanden som består av flaggat innehåll, bland annat trakasserande meddelanden och glåpord. Ingen signifikant skillnad observerades med respektive utan pop-up:en i andelen blockordsmeddelanden per spelomgång. Vi kunde därmed inte dra någon slutsats om att andelen skulle ha förändrats av vår interaktiva pop-up. Likväl observerades en statistiskt säkerställd minskning av antalet chattmeddelanden som inte fångats upp av Primetimes blockordsfunktion om 49%. För sammanräknade antalet blockordsmeddelanden hade dessa minskat med 39%, men utan statistisk signifikans. Därmed drogs slutsatsen att vår pop-up delvis har reducerat avhämningseffekten, men inte med säkerhet trakasserande meddelanden och glåpord. / More and more people in the world are playing online games, however, the number of players who are being harassed online is also increasing. The reduced restraint one can experience when expressing oneself online compared to physical conversations is called the Online disinhibition effect. This study examines whether it is possible to reduce the negative aspects of the Online disinhibition effect, so called Toxic disinhibition, in online games. Gamers who are influenced by this effect are more prone to utter harassments and swearing in online games chats. The question is of interest for gaming companies that pursue online chat; preventing harassment and profanity would mean that companies need to spend less resources on moderation. In addition, the issue is of interest to individuals who chat online, as their well-being would increase if the social environment in games improved. An interactive pop-up was designed and tested in a quiz application called Primetime. The pop-up aimed to reduce toxic disinhibition among the players. Initially, we focused on reducing the feeling of anonymity, with color choices and emoticons that reinforce a calming message. We then performed an A/B-test where game rounds without pop-up were compared with game rounds with pop-up. The differences were analyzed by measuring the content and quantity of messages in Primetime's blockword function. The blockword function collects the chat messages that consist of flagged content, including harassing messages and profanity. No significant difference was observed with or without the pop-up in the proportion of blockword messages per game round. We could therefore not draw any conclusion that the proportion would have changed by our interactive pop-up. Nevertheless, a statistically significant reduction in the number of chat messages not captured by Primetime's blockword function was observed with a 49% decline. For the aggregate number of blockword messages, these had decreased by 39%, but without statistical significance. Thus, it was concluded that our pop-up has partially reduced the Online disinhibition effect, but not harassing messages and profanity

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MA (Sociology) / Department of Sociology / The use of social media has in the last decade become popular among students in Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL). Social relationships and communications among students mostly take place on social networks. However, because of their growing popularity abuse is also increasing on these social media platforms. Female students are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment and other forms of abuse on these platforms. This study explored the experiences of online sexual harassment among female students at a selected Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) in South Africa. This was to gain insights into the extent to which female students in institutions of Higher Learning are affected by this phenomenon. In particular, the study sought to find out the different forms of online sexual harassment experienced by female students in IHL, the specific types of online platforms where this sexual harassment take place, and the coping strategies employed by these students to cope with online sexual harassment. To address these objectives, the study adopted a qualitative exploratory design which allowed understanding of these experiences through the eyes of the victims. Twenty female participants were used for the study, while semi structured interviews were employed to collect data from these individuals. Purposive and critical case sampling technique was used to identify female students who had experienced sexual harassment online in the IHL. Findings reveal that sexual harassment at the IHL has occurred mostly in the form soliciting and sending of inappropriate pictures and videos to the victims. The study also revealed that the two main platforms on which sexual harassment of female students took place were WhatsApp and Facebook. While the main strategies of coping with online sexual harassment were blocking of harassers and complete disregard of the harassers. / NRF

在網路世界中，人們以匿名表達意見遠比現實生活中更為容易，這件事已劇烈地改變了匿名言論的量與質。從好的面向看，匿名帶來自主，讓異議者可以透過網路匿名，表達可能永遠都不敢在眾人面前說出來的真正想法，讓觀念市場變得多元豐富；另一方面，匿名提高了追究責任的困難。相較於現實世界的言論，損害他人或構成犯罪的惡質網路匿名言論，將造成影響更深遠且永久的傷害。 　　目前，關於網路匿名言論的管制方式，世界各國政府都是仰賴「事後追懲模式」和「實名認證模式」的其中一種。前者是網路使用者原則上可以匿名地發表言論，但如果發表不當言論並造成傷害，受害者或國家可以揭露其身份以對其展開司法追訴；後者是網路使用者在張貼言論前，必須先向國家機關指定的網路業者交出個人真實身份資料以進行驗證後，才能匿名發言，或甚至完全禁止以匿名方式發言，讓網路使用者感受到被眾人監督的壓力，不敢發表不當內容。 　　本文主張，網路匿名言論是受到憲法所保障的權利，而「事後追懲模式」相較於「實名認證模式」，較能調和不同權利間的衝突。不過，儘管我國政府採取此模式，卻在設計民刑事訴訟制度時，漏未導入匿名言論權利的思考，導致網路匿名表意者一經策略性訴訟攻擊，真實身份就會立即暴露，使得匿名表意自由不過徒有虛幻表象。因此，本文建議，為落實對匿名言論自由的保護，立法者宜參考美國法，修改部分訴訟法來處理此問題。 / On the internet, people can express themselves anonymously far easier than in the physical world. This fact has dramatically changed both the quantities and qualities of anonymous speech. On the bright side, anonymity brings more autonomy. Dissenters can express their real opinions, which they might never have the courage to speak out in public. It, in turn will promote the diversity and integrity of the marketplace of ideas. Yet, anonymity also makes it more difficult to hold the speakers accountable. In addition, compared to speech in the real physical world, malicious online anonymous speech will cause more serious permanent harms. 　　Today, governments around the world are either relying on the “Ex Post Compensation and Punishment” approach or the “Real-Name Verification System” to regulate online anonymous speech. Under the former approach, internet users can express their opinions anonymously, but if the content of their speech is malicious and causes damages to other people, the victim can seek disclosure of the speaker’s identity in order to take legal actions against the speaker. In contrast, under the latter system, internet users have to provide their personal information (real identities) to the ISPs or ICPs appointed by governments and complete the verification process before they can post their words. Some real name systems go even further by banning anonymous speech completely. By making users feel like they are being supervised by the public, the real name system wishes to deter indecent contents 　　This thesis argues that online anonymous speech is protected by the Constitution, and the ‘Ex Post Compensation and Punishment’ is a preferred approach because it can better balance the conflicting rights. In Taiwan, although the government has chosen the ‘Ex Post Compensation and Punishment’ approach, current civil/criminal procedural laws and practices afford little protection to online anonymous speakers. The plaintiff, who is allegedly harmed by the anonymous speech, can easily bring a “Strategic Lawsuit,” with the sole purpose of obtaining the identity of the online anonymous speaker. Consequently, this thesis suggests that, in order to better protect the freedom of anonymous speech, the legislators of Taiwan should refer to U.S. laws and practices and revise several provisions of Taiwan’s Code of Civil Procedure and Code of Criminal Procedure.