Anonymity
Anonymity - Related Videos
00:57
Deindividuation
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2020
Deindividuation is a form of social influence on an individual’s behavior such that the individual engages in unusual or non-normal behavior while in a group setting. Why? Because in these group settings, the individual no longer sees themselves as an individual anymore, disinhibiting their behavior and personal restraint. History In the late 1800s, social psychologist Gustave Le Bon first posited the hypothesis that an individual’s behavior can differ between being in a crowd versus being...
11:51
Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making
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Cited by 9 •
2011
The procedure described in this protocol shows that testosterone administration and folk beliefs about testosterone may be associated with directly opposed social behaviors.
02:16
Surveys
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2020
Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally. Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people. Surveys allow researchers to gather data from larger samples than may be afforded by...
06:49
Evaluation of a Smartphone-based Human Activity Recognition System in a Daily Living Environment
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Cited by 6 •
2015
A standardized evaluation method was developed for Wearable Mobility Monitoring Systems (WMMS) that includes continuous activities in a realistic daily living environment. Testing with a series of daily living activities can decrease activity recognition sensitivity; therefore, realistic testing circuits are encouraged for valid evaluation of WMMS performance.
08:34
Thinking Too Much Impairs Decision-Making
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2023
Source: Peter Mende-Siedlecki & Jay Van Bavel—New York University When we are considering a tough choice between two or more attractive options, we often end up actively weighing the pros and cons of each alternative. By reflecting on their advantages and disadvantages, we attempt to fit a complex, subjective decision into an orderly set of criteria. However, research in psychology suggests that this sort of introspective approach might not always yield the most optimal outcomes.1 In other...
FAQs
Anonymity can reduce self-awareness, perceived accountability, and concern about social evaluation. These changes may make personal identity less salient during interaction, but they do not produce one uniform behavioral outcome. Group norms and situational cues help shape whether reduced identifiability is associated with disclosure, conformity, cooperation, or aggression.
Anonymity, pseudonymity, and physical isolation describe different psychological conditions. Anonymity concerns whether actions or opinions can be linked to a person, whereas pseudonymity involves interaction under an alternate identity, and physical isolation concerns separation from other people. Distinguishing these factors helps researchers determine which condition contributes to changes in behavior or reporting.
Group norms provide social cues that can direct behavior when personal identity is less salient. Consequently, anonymity may support cooperation or candid disclosure in one setting but coincide with conformity or aggression in another. Examining the surrounding group expectations allows psychologists to interpret anonymity as a context-dependent influence rather than a guaranteed cause of harmful or helpful conduct.
Psychologists examine anonymity across online interaction, group decision-making, surveys, and experiments. These settings allow researchers to study outcomes such as disclosure, conformity, cooperation, and aggression while considering how identity concealment interacts with the situation. Comparing responses across contexts can show whether a behavioral pattern reflects anonymity, group influence, or another relevant condition.
Protecting participant anonymity reduces privacy risks and can encourage more candid responses. This is especially relevant when people report opinions or experiences that may be affected by concern about social evaluation. Ethical study design therefore treats anonymity as both a privacy safeguard and a condition that may influence the quality or openness of participants’ responses.
Anonymity research can clarify how reduced identifiability relates to communication and collective behavior. In online interaction, researchers may examine disclosure or aggression, while group decision-making can reveal patterns of conformity or cooperation. Interpreting these outcomes requires attention to situational cues and group norms, because the same condition may produce different responses across psychological contexts.