Segovia & Bailenson (2013). Identity manipulation: What happens when identity presentation is not truthful. - Article summary

The freedom of avatar-based communication to manipulate how one presents oneself can induce both liberating and destructive consequences for the individual actor and other social interactants.

Anonymity refers to the degree to which a communicator perceives an individual as unknown or unspecified. Anonymity is a continuous construct. It is a social construct and requires interpersonal context and awareness. The previous interactions with an actor also affect how anonymous someone is.

Misrepresentation refers to the creation of false and misleading impressions about one’s identity. This may occur to make one more desirable than one really is. Identity replacement refers to the act of substituting another identity for one’s own. This new identity can be of someone else or completely fictional.

Computer-mediated context makes it easy for a person to pretend to be someone else. Impostering refers to replacing physical world identities with virtual, avatar-based identities that do not look like them.

The self-perception theory states that people infer their own attitudes from observing themselves as if from third-person perspective. One’s perceived identity can change how an individual behaves. People start to behave in ways that are consistent with the characteristics of their manipulated identities.

The deindividuation theory states that when individuals lose their sense of individual identity, they are less likely to abide by social norms. Deindividuation produces a general disinhibition of previous inhibited behaviour.

The social identity model of deindividuation states that the self should be defined at various different levels including the categorical self as well as the personal self (e.g. a nurse disguise makes people less aggressive; not necessarily non-normative behaviour).

The context of communication (1), the degree to which the source is perceived as anonymous (2), the receiver’s desire to identify the source (3) and the receiver’s potential ability to determine the source’s identity influence a receiver’s attempts at identifying an anonymous other. These factors also predict the way in which the message and source are perceived.

The expectancy violation theory states that non-verbal behaviours that are expected are accepted at face by the perceivers whereas unexpected behaviours are scrutinized. This scrutiny can lead to more positively or negatively valanced assessment based on how the perceiver assesses the violator and the violation. Virtual avatars that are deemed more realistic are seen as more trustworthy and credible. This means that virtual avatars create expectations that can be violated. Expectancy violations may lead to differential analysis of subsequent behaviour.

The uncertainty reduction theory states that uncertainty is unpleasant and the increase of uncertainty decreases liking whereas the decrease of uncertainty increases liking. This means that anonymous actors might incite more uncertainty and thus have decreased levels of liking. However, uncertainty in pleasurable contexts may prolong positive responses to stimuli. This means that uncertainty may only amplify or prolong the perceiver’s natural response.

People with manipulated identities might feel less accountable for their actions. It is possible that anonymity (i.e. due to deindividuation) makes the actor more anti-social in both real life and computer-mediated environments. Furthermore, people tend to disclose more about themselves in visually anonymous situations (e.g. chatrooms).

Identity misrepresentation in computer-mediated environments can impact how individuals behave and perceive of themselves. Individuals who misrepresent their identities in computer-mediated contexts may come to adopt characteristics of their misrepresented identity.

Identity replacement in computer-mediated environments may reduce the actor’s anxiety in deceiving others.

The perceiver tends to see an anonymous other as less trustworthy, less persuasive and having less goodwill towards the group. In addition to this, people tend to view non-anonymous feedback more positively.

Identity misrepresentation is often strongly punished in social settings when the identity misrepresentation is detected. Identity replacement is often punished when it accompanies negative effects (e.g. ostracizing). This means that voluntary identity replacement leads to stronger negative reactions when the replaced identity acts in a negative way than when a person does not have a replaced identity or does not act in a negative way.