Anonymity as a catalyst for good: Linking social media anonymity to prosocial behavior

IF 2.6 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

Personality and Individual Differences Pub Date : 2025-09-13 DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2025.113444

Ping Yang , Chunli Ji , Jing Liu , Catherine Prentice

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Social media anonymity is associated with cyberbullying and aggressive behavior. By the same token, such anonymity can promote positive outcomes. The study examines the relationships between users' anonymity and their prosocial behaviors. Social fairness and subjective well-being are modeled as mediators, with online justice as the moderator. Four studies were undertaken to examine these relationships. Studies 1 and 2 examined the relationship between social media anonymity and online prosocial behavior. Study 3 investigated the mediating effects of social fairness and subjective well-being, as well as the moderating influence of online justice. Study 4 collected real data from social media platforms to validate these findings. This study contributes to the literature on social media anonymity and positive psychology by revealing the positive impact of social media anonymity on consumers' prosocial behavior. These findings offer valuable insights for platform managers to optimize their strategies by harnessing the benefits of anonymity to foster a more prosocial and inclusive online community.

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匿名是好事的催化剂：将社交媒体匿名与亲社会行为联系起来

社交媒体匿名与网络欺凌和攻击行为有关。出于同样的原因，这种匿名可以促进积极的结果。该研究考察了用户匿名与他们的亲社会行为之间的关系。以社会公平和主观幸福感为中介，以网络正义为调节因子。进行了四项研究来检验这些关系。研究1和研究2考察了社交媒体匿名性与在线亲社会行为之间的关系。研究3考察了社会公平对主观幸福感的中介作用，以及网络公正的调节作用。研究4从社交媒体平台收集了真实数据来验证这些发现。本研究通过揭示社交媒体匿名性对消费者亲社会行为的积极影响，对社交媒体匿名性与积极心理学的研究文献做出了贡献。这些发现为平台管理者提供了有价值的见解，可以通过利用匿名的好处来优化他们的策略，从而培养一个更亲社会、更包容的在线社区。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Personality and Individual Differences PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

8.50

自引率

4.70%

发文量

577

审稿时长

41 days

期刊介绍： Personality and Individual Differences is devoted to the publication of articles (experimental, theoretical, review) which aim to integrate as far as possible the major factors of personality with empirical paradigms from experimental, physiological, animal, clinical, educational, criminological or industrial psychology or to seek an explanation for the causes and major determinants of individual differences in concepts derived from these disciplines. The editors are concerned with both genetic and environmental causes, and they are particularly interested in possible interaction effects.