THE social media Today they can be a place of great exchange of ideassharing of opinions and expansion of our knowledge network beyond spatial limits. However, more often than not, discussions (often in comments) degenerate into aggressive and violent conversationsranging from attacking to discrediting, from offending to defaming and humiliating. But why does it happen? Theanonymitytogether with psychological phenomena such as the disinhibition online and the deindividuationplays a key role in encouraging impulsive and aggressive behavior. Furthermore, the lack of immediate consequences and the effect of the “filter bubble” contribute to fueling this problem.
Being anonymous reduces inhibitions
L’anonymity on social media allows users to hide their real identity behind pseudonyms or fake profiles. This creates a sense of protectionone barrier between the real and the virtual which leads individuals to express themselves in ways they would not adopt in real life. In psychology, this phenomenon is known as “online disinhibition effect“, first described by John Suler in 2004, and which in common parlance is reflected in terms such as “keyboard lions”.
According to Suler, anonymity can lead to a reduction of social inhibitions precisely because of this dissociation between real and digital that cancels the sense of responsibility and fear of others’ reaction, encouraging impulsive and sometimes aggressive behavior.
How Social Group Dynamics Work: Deindividuation Theory
Another motivation concerns the behavior of the individual within a group or a crowd. When we become part of a mass an effect occurs cancellation of individualityor the loss of one’s identity which leads us to follow the behaviour of the masses. This leads to a decrease in the sense of responsibility and to putting into action more extreme behaviors precisely because we feel legitimized from anonymity and from the herd, which at the same time makes us think that we will not suffer any kind of consequences.
On social media, anonymity and the perception of being part of a group can favor the emergence of aggressive behavior. In this case, the lack of perception of responsibility is what pushes towards feeling of not being identifiable within a large group, and to be justified in one’s behavior by virtue of the fact that the latter appears legitimate to the group.
Online anonymity also reduces the risk of immediate consequences. In real lifeaggressive and offensive behaviors can lead to social sanctionsas the disapproval of others or even legal repercussions. On social mediainstead, the consequences they are often minimum or non-existentfurther encouraging people to indulge in aggressive outbursts.
The “Filter Bubble” Effect
Another factor that contributes to online aggression is the effect of “filter bubble“. When we move on the web and social media, we leave a trace of our interests and what we are curious about, a form of data. The algorithms who decide what we will find in our feed and then try to show us contents that I am in line with our opinionsto keep us inside the platform as long as possible. In fact, when we find information that confirms our beliefs, deep brain areas are activated, such as the nucleus accumbens which, by releasing dopaminegives us a sense of pleasure useful to further reinforce our ideas. On the contrary, a piece of information that disproves our beliefs It brings us a sense of uneaseas a result of a cognitive dissonance. It goes without saying that the internal mechanism of social media tends to reinforce personal beliefs and increase intolerance towards different opinions, leading to more polarized discussions and aggressive.
To mitigate aggression on social media, the content moderation is essential. Social platforms have implemented moderation policies to remove offensive content and aggressive behavior. However, moderation is a very complex operation, as it must balance the politics of the respect between comments with the freedom of expression.
Neuroscience and online aggression
Neuroscientific studies have shown that theonline anonymity can affect the neural circuits responsible for the aggression control. Research has shown that anonymity can modulate the activity of theamygdalaa deep region of the brain involved in emotions and aggression. In conditions of anonymitythe amygdala tends to be more activereducing the control that the company normally exercises over it prefrontal cortexresponsible for regulation of emotions and social behavior. Furthermore, the reduction of social inhibitions associated with anonymity can lead to a greater emotional reactivity it’s at impulsive behaviorsas shown by functional neuroimaging studies.
