Social Asymmetries and Anonymity in Dyadic Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract

Abstract. This research concerns the influence of dominant/dominated asymmetries in the perceptual structure of social categories in computer-mediated communication (CMC). We explore the connection between the cognitive effects described by the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) and the impact on perceptions of the asymmetrical status that characterizes gender groups. The study analyzes the gender perception of two interlocutors in a communication context of anonymity or visibility. The experiment was based on a standardized protocol designed to control the various declarative contents expressed during the communication. Eighty-eight participants were placed in a CMC situation with a confederate of the opposite sex. We manipulated visibility and anonymity through interlocutors’ names (provided vs. withheld) and the presence or absence of a webcam in the communication situation. In accordance with our predictions, the results suggest that gender asymmetry can modulate the cognitive effects of anonymity. The results and prospects of this research are discussed in light of work on the dominant/dominated groups and the SIDE model.