Perceived Self-anonymity and Willingness to Change Attitude In Computer-Mediated Communication

This study examines the impact that one’s perceived degree of self-anonymity has on one’s willingness to change their own attitude, specifically in a computer-mediated context. Participants (N = 717) completed a questionnaire assessing their perceived degree of self-anonymity while using Facebook or Reddit as well as measures for other personality factors. Participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario in which a discussion on universal health care takes place in a comment thread on either Facebook or Reddit. Participants indicated both how willing they would be to change their opinion on universal health care, and how willing they would be to express a genuine change of attitude within the comment thread. It was hypothesized that one’s perceived degree of self-anonymity would positively predict one’s willingness to change attitude. Contradictory results were found such that one’s perceived degree of self-anonymity emerged as a significant negative predictor of willingness to change attitude. Contributions to extending the social identity model of deindividuating effects (SIDE) are discussed, as the researcher argues for continuous (rather than dichotomous) measures of anonymity