Online Aggression: The Influences of Anonymity and Social Modeling

Behavioral temptation to aggress and participant blog responses following a group word-unscrambling game were examined in situations of anonymity and neutral or aggressive social modeling. Anonymous participants were more aggressive than nonanonymous participants. Also, social modeling seemed to moderate the effect of anonymity on behavioral temptation to aggress as well as verbal aggression via blog posts. Specifically, anonymous participants responded more aggressively when they viewed aggressive models following failure in a team word-unscrambling game. Although anonymity may increase the likelihood that individuals will aggress, aggressive social modeling exacerbates this outcome in anonymous individuals.