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Anonymity of Cyberbullying

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Cyber/Internet/online harassment; Cyberstalking; E-bullying; Electronic aggression; Electronic bullying

Definition

Although cyberbullying shares certain categorical features synonymous with traditional types of bullying, cyberbullying itself is a unique phenomenon that occurs through the use of technology (e.g., social media, email, chat rooms, instant messaging, text messaging, or websites) rather than through traditional face-to-face (e.g., physical fights, destruction of property, verbal insults) or in-person (e.g., gossiping, ostracism) modalities. Anonymity is often an essential component of cyberbullying and is used to refer to anonymous posts and interactions in which a person’s identity cannot be determined through the computer IP address, usernames, or handles. Further, anonymity can also be used as a description when the actual name/identity of a person’s offline presence is more difficult to determine even in the obvious existence of an online one (e.g.,...

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Correspondence to Jennifer M. Knack .

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Knack, J.M., Iyer-Eimerbrink, P., Young, R. (2016). Anonymity of Cyberbullying. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2496-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2496-1

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