Malamuth, Linz, & Weber (2013). The internet and aggression: Motivation, disinhibitory, and opportunity aspects. - Article summary

The use of internet is common for terrorism. The instant connections over internet increase the opportunity for exposure to aggression for all participants. Internet also allows for the possibility of deeper, more narrow penetration both into content areas and into the private psychological spaces of users.

Terrorists use the internet to target specific segments of the population with more subtle and detailed information. There are three differences between how terrorists use the internet and other forms of media. On the internet:

1. Terrorist groups are more pacifistic in their rhetoric.
2. The webpages contain a great deal of detailed information.
3. The webpages offer visitors more possibilities to take action (e.g. donations).

The internet provides new tools for young aggressors who already engage in aggressive behaviours in the physical world to victimize a larger group of peers in cyberspace.

Aggression refers to a behaviour directed toward the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid the harm. Instrumental aggression refers to aggression that is used to attain goals. Hostile aggression refers to aggression where harm or injury to the target is the primary goal of the behaviour. This is associated with anger in response to frustration.

The network theory of emotions states that emotions, cognitions and action tendencies are connected in memory through association. The activation of one element van spread to other nodes in the associative network.

It is likely that instrumental and hostile aggression are a continuum. Aggression through the internet is more subtle and encompassing than overt forms of aggression (e.g. homicide with guns). Media exposure is a risk factor and not a unique cause of aggression.

Individuals with certain predispositions are likely to seek out media that are consistent with those pre-existing predispositions. This is, in turn, likely to strengthen those dispositions.

The general aggression model states that social situations represent an opportunity for learning. The learning that takes place is influenced by the interaction of person and situation variables. These learning encounters influence the internal state of the person and their appraisal of the environment and decisions and behaviours.

The fact that the internet is always on increases the possibility of extensive exposure to cognitive scripts and emotions potentially priming and motivating aggression. The risk for aggression may also increase through internet use because the internet is interactive.

Active participation of a violent video game increases aggressive behaviour. This especially occurred for games with high levels of interactivity and low-skilled players. Visiting violence-oriented websites may contribute to youths’ aggressiveness.

There are four important differences between passive exposure to media violence and interactive video game play:

1. The involvement level of individuals and identification with violent characters
   Interactive video games require a person to become the aggressor whereas passive media exposure only shows the aggressor.
2. Reinforcement of violent acts
   Violence is indirectly rewarded in mainstream media but directly rewarded in videogames.
3. Frequency of violent scenes
   Violence is almost continuous in videogames whereas it is not in other media.
4. Perceived realism
   Videogames are becoming increasingly realistic.

These four elements are expected to make video games more harmful than violent media and makes the internet an excellent teaching tool for aggression.

The internet is a decentralized, distributed network. This makes it difficult to impose normative limitations. There are no external inhibitors. The lack of regulation might lead the content on the internet being more extreme than found on other media.

The possibility of users to maintain privacy and public contact makes it more likely for internet users to show behaviours that transgress moral boundaries. Technical anonymity refers to the removal of all meaningful identifying information about others in the exchange of material (e.g. removal of name). Social anonymity refers to the perception of others and one’s self as unidentifiable because of a lack of cues to use to attribute an identity to that individual.

A computer-mediated environment decreases or eliminates cues and sources of information that have been identified as important in the development of polite, friendly, courteous interpersonal interactions. A computer-mediated environment may lead to deindividuation due to a reduction of social cues. Participation is often unmonitored by others.

The internet allows for expression of an identity through participation in a group that shares your interests. The internet does not create new aggressors but provides tools for already aggressive young people in the physical world to victimize a larger group of peers in cyberspace.

Stalking refers to wilful, malicious and repeated following and harassing of another person. The internet allows for opportunities to stalk people. Participation in online self-help groups may be harmful to some members because:

• Members may encounter cyberstalkers
• Communication may become disinhibited online; exposing participants to threats, profanity, seduction and personal attacks.
• The qualifications of moderators are not regulated.
• The identity of members is unknown.
• Members may receive misinformation from other group members.
• Messages may be forwarded or archived resulting in a loss of privacy.
• Identity can be easily disguised.

Self-monitoring, judgemental and self-reactive are mechanisms involved in whether people engage in immoral behaviour. Actions give rise to self-reactions through a judgmental function in which the individual’s conduct is evaluated against their internal standards and situational circumstances. Self-sanction may occur if an internal standard is violated.

Moral justification of an action may occur through sanitizing euphemistic language (1), advantageous comparison (2), disavowal of a sense of personal agency by diffusion or displacement of responsibility (3), disregarding or minimizing the injurious effects of one’s actions (4) and attribution of blame to the victims.

Flaming might be attributable to deindividuation. Deindividuation might lead to anti-normative and uninhibited behaviour.

It is often difficult to identify and assess the nature of cyber crimes due to the technological features of the internet. Individuals engaged in criminal computer activity routinely minimize or misconstrue the consequences. They also often attribute blame to the victim.

Cyberbullying refers to an aggressive behaviour that involves using the internet to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person. Cyberbullying often employs the use of social networks where people are identified rather than anonymized.

Differences between traditional bullying and cyberbullying are that cyberbullies are often anonymous (1), there is a lack of social and physical cues which ensures that the cyberbully are not personally confronted with the way their victims react (2) and many parents are unaware of cyberbullying (3).