#92: Perceptual error from cyberspace

Here is a perceptual error that is triggered in cyberspace. It is called the ‘online disinhibition effect’. In cyberspace, people tend to behave with less restraint, often resulting in offensive, embarrassing or rude messages being sent.

According to John Suler, a psychologist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., the following factors lead to online disinhibition: using an on-line alias; being invisible to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of authority figures on-line.

Disinhibition can be helpful. For example, it can help the shy to be more outgoing online. But it can also be harmful, such as when it triggers Web rage. The Times of London reported in October that a 47-year-old Londoner was convicted of tracking down a man and physically assaulting him. They had traded insults on-line.


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Copyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh

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