CSUEB professor explains why people post mean comments online

Head shot of Professor Daniel E. Martin, Cal State East Bay associate professor of management

Daniel E. Martin, associate professor of management

September 11, 2012 5:00am

Oakland Tribune Reporter Angela Hill interviewed Daniel Martin, associate professor of management at Cal State East Bay, for her article, “If you can't say anything nice, come log on to the Internet.”

"We behave in a different way when online,” explained Martin. “It’s as if you're wearing a cloak or a mask and, well, you can get away with it. When in a mask or uniform or group, you cease to recognize even yourself as an individual and therefore don't see others that way either, don't see how you're hurting someone."

One way to reduce online conflicts and foster civil public discourse is to remind people that "they are who they are," Martin said, by encouraging them to use their real identities and combating the "deindividuation - when in a mask or uniform or group, you cease to recognize even yourself as an individual and therefore don't see others that way either, don't see how you're hurting someone."

Read Oakland Tribune article.