Deindividuation in Online Human Dynamics Research Advances in the Modern Digital Era

Dear Colleagues,

In a world where over the 50% of the population has access to the Internet, and over the 40% are active social media users, to understand the dynamics that underlie the behaviors of people and groups in the online environments is one of the main challenges for researchers interested in studying humans social dynamics, for the present and for the future.

Online environments, on the one hand, allow the development of interactions in some way similar to those that occur in the real world, and, on the other, some characteristics are peculiar of communication exchanged through the web, such as anonymity, physical distance, degree of telepresence, social cues availability and asynchronicity.

One of the major topics of interest for future research in the field of human online interactions is represented by the phenomenon of deindividuation.

Classical theories focused their attention on the effect of deindividuation on violent and antisocial behaviors. Nowadays, modern theories extended the study on deindividuation to embrace a wide spectrum of phenomena related to group life, like social norms change, conformism, and social identity development/management.

For what concern the effect of deindividuation in context of computer mediated communication (CMC), the most up-to-date model is represented by the Social Identity model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE model). The SIDE model examines group interactions even within online environments, considering the effects of anonymity. According to the SIDE model, when an individual is in a situation of online interaction that promotes identification with the group, and increases its importance for the subject, anonymity produces a polarization mechanisms towards the position of the reference group, and a greater tendency to adhere to local social norms, in force, in the context of interaction. On the contrary, when the context promotes the salience of personal identity, anonymity in online interactions leads to a reduction in the importance attributed to the membership of that group, and the deviation from the collective rules in favor of the subjective ones.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest results of research on the topic of deindividuation effects in online environments. The main topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Contributions to a contemporary theoretical issue or debate about online deindividuation;
• The process of adherence to social norms in an online environment.
• The role (and the development) of social identity in online group dynamics.
• The SIDE model and the digital pedagogy.
• The SIDE model and the digital democracy.
• SIDE model, proteus effect and perspectives of cyber therapy.
• Online deindividuation and online radicalization.

Prof. Dr. Andrea Guazzini
Prof. Dr. Franco Bagnoli
Dr. Giorgio Gronchi
Guest Editors

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