"Flame First, Think Later: New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior"

[swag]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/health/psychology/20essa.html

excerpt:

. . .

Flaming has a technical name, the “online disinhibition effect,” which psychologists apply to the many ways people behave with less restraint in cyberspace.

In a 2004 article in the journal CyberPsychology & Behavior, John Suler, a psychologist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., suggested that several psychological factors lead to online disinhibition: the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online authority figure. Dr. Suler notes that disinhibition can be either benign — when a shy person feels free to open up online — or toxic, as in flaming.

The emerging field of social neuroscience, the study of what goes on in the brains and bodies of two interacting people, offers clues into the neural mechanics behind flaming.

This work points to a design flaw inherent in the interface between the brain’s social circuitry and the online world. In face-to-face interaction, the brain reads a continual cascade of emotional signs and social cues, instantaneously using them to guide our next move so that the encounter goes well. Much of this social guidance occurs in circuitry centered on the orbitofrontal cortex, a center for empathy. This cortex uses that social scan to help make sure that what we do next will keep the interaction on track.

Research by Jennifer Beer, a psychologist at the University of California, Davis, finds that this face-to-face guidance system inhibits impulses for actions that would upset the other person or otherwise throw the interaction off. Neurological patients with a damaged orbitofrontal cortex lose the ability to modulate the amygdala, a source of unruly impulses; like small children, they commit mortifying social gaffes like kissing a complete stranger, blithely unaware that they are doing anything untoward.

. . .

[AmyDeLune]

1. Kick! n/t

[hickman]

2. So cyberspace brings out the sociopaths?

Is this new?

[swag]

7. Well, actually

sociopaths are a different subject altogether. Their presence on the Internet might make for an interesting study, though.

[Omphaloskepsis]

3. this sums it up nicely..

[swag]

8. Who you callin' a total fuckwad, shitcock?

Nice drawing. Did you do that?

[Omphaloskepsis]

21. I wish I had done that..

I think it is known as John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory..
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

edit: fixed link

[LuLu550]

11. I am amused n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. They needed studies to determine

that some people are assholes online? :shrug:

[swag]

9. No,

this study seems to be trying to determine why some people are assholes online.

[bridgit]

5. that would seem an easy research grant to validate...

[DainBramaged]

6. "The emerging field of social neuroscience"

Just another meal ticket for those who think they have all the answers, but don't have the skills to have their own families.

You folks really believe this? So sad. I guess anything you read on the internets can be taken at face value as absolute truth.:wow:

Oh, almost forgot, I read a study about the tooth fairy, and she is preparing for a comeback tour.:spray:

[swag]

10. That's quite an array of non sequiturs you've got going there,

the most impressive non sequitur of which is the laughing blue ball at the end.

Sorry you don't find reading about the study of neural mechanisms interesting.

[DainBramaged]

12. I'd prefer advances in child psychology to make childhood drug free

and let them escape the bonds of the pharma giants before it's too late.

[Hugin]

13. I did a thesis on 'de-individuation' when I was in college...

Fascinating topic.

I did the research long before the advent of the Internet. It plays a large role in mob behavior.

[swag]

20. Sounds like a fun read, your thesis.

Right now, I'm rereading Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. So well written and funny. Cautionary tales for all.

[GirlinContempt]

14. This is bullshit,.

It isn't about my pet cause. What a joke.

[swag]

15. Sorry, darling. Here's something to wrap your mind around:

[GirlinContempt]

16. I just threw up in my mouth

and yet I'm not sure why
WTF is that?>

[swag]

17. Eyes offa the guy on the right;

he's mine.

[GirlinContempt]

18. Hey man

I won't step on your toes

[swag]

19. Mm,

steaks!

[GirlinContempt]

28. Saucy

[swag]

29. Your post inspired me to hoof it down to Tom's First Avenue Bento

for the top sirlion over brown rice with steamed vegetables bento which I am now enjoying.

I hope I don't plug my espophagus in my eagerness to wolf this down.

[GirlinContempt]

32. I'd Heimlich you any day, baby

[swimboy]

22. Thanks for this.

I was a real nothing before I came into my internet powers.



Now I have one of the most perfectly developed non-orbital frontal cortices in this great country.

[swag]

23. And from the looks that pic,

you've got a pretty sweet keister, too!

[swimboy]

24. It's non-frontal orbital.

and you're very kind.

[swag]

25. Facts is facts.

[Radio_Lady]

26. Disinhibited, indeed! I'm letting it all hang out here... Kicked and...

Oh, I forgot. I can't recommend a Lounge post.

[Radio_Lady]

27. Isn't this just like WRITING IN YOUR DIARY, except folks are reading it?

[swag]

30. No, not really, because other people from all over the world are

also writing in this "diary."

[Radio_Lady]

31. Each person decides how much he/she wants (or doesn't want) to reveal.

So it's more like a multiple diary which can be unlocked by everyone...

[trof]

33. That put my feelings into words. Fascinating. Thanks.

I got 3 e-mails today from people I know who would never bring up their subject matter in a face-to-face conversation.

One was way overly right-wing religious and liberal bashing.
The guy has never talked religion with me in person.
Nor has he bashed liberals to my face.

Two were bogus 'urban legend' bullshit about the significance of flag folding and the 21 gun salute. They were from a military officer who really should know better.

K&R

[Zuiderelle]

34. Disinhibit this!

Oh no, I've lost the ability to modulate my amygdala. :D

[Missy Vixen]

35. swag, thank you so much for posting this

I participate in another website that has been the favorite target of a virulent troll lately. One of the posters there hasn't ventured onto the Web before; as a result, she revealed a bit too much about herself and family IRL, and she's now being flambed on a daily basis. It was an innocent mistake. She's a nice person, and being bullied by someone I would hate to have any encounter with on any level in my daily life, that's for sure.

It's amazing to me that people believe that since they sit behind a keyboard and there are supposedly no consequences to comments made online to others, it's okay to say anything to anyone you'd like, no matter how pugnacious or hurtful. At least now I have a study backing up my initial impressions...

Julie