Online Disinhibition : Conceptualization, Measurement, and Relation to Aggressive Behaviors

The Internet has changed the way we communicate and interact with other people. Individuals become loosen up and feel less restrained to say or do things in the online space that they would not ordinarily say and do in the offline environment. This online disinhibition effect has been found to be associated with online aggressive and deviant behaviors. Though the concept of online disinhibition has been introduced to the literature for almost two decades, there is still a lack of consensus regarding its conceptualization and operationalization. In this research-in-progress paper, we first revisit the concept of online inhibition. We then propose a rigorous approach in scale development and validation. We believe that this research will contribute to the development of literature related to the societal impacts of technology use. The newly developed and validated measures of online disinhibition will be added to the repository of rigorous research instruments.