Civic Courage Online (Julia Sasse, Niklas Cypris & Anna Baumert)
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Individuals and groups are frequently targets of bullying, sexual harassment, and hate speech on online platforms. Such norm violations can have detrimental negative consequences, for instance by causing psychological harm and damaging social cohesion. Finding ways to reduce and prevent online norm violations is hence crucial. Online users may play an important role in this context. We argue that it can be considered morally courageous if users decide to take a stand against perceived violations of their own moral beliefs and endorsed norms, as it may imply substantial risks for themselves. With this chapter, we aim to advance our understanding of online moral courage as a relatively new phenomenon. First, we provide an examination of critical characteristics of online environments that may facilitate or hinder moral courage. Second, we discuss consequences of online moral courage by considering its effects on perpetrators, further online users, and the general tonality of the online discourse. Last, we integrate insights on the facilitators and obstacles of online moral courage and its consequences to provide practical recommendations for the design and management of online platforms and user education and training.
Keywords: Moral courage, hate speech, harassment, anonymity, reach, bystander effect, prosociality
Julia Sasse is Professor for General Psychology and Media Effects at
the Applied University Ansbach and affiliated researcher at the Institute
for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence at TUM. She studied at the
University of Düsseldorf and received her PhD in Social Psychology
from the University of Groningen in 2017. In her research, she investigates
the functions of emotions in the context of norm transgressions
and social conflicts in offline and online environments.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Julia Sasse, Applied University Ansbach, Residenzstrasse 8, 91522
Ansbach, Germany, e-mail: .
Niklas Cypris
Niklas Cypris is a Research Fellow at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal
and an affiliated researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute for
Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, as well as the Institute for Ethics
in Artificial Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich. He
studied at the University of Cologne and received his M.Sc. in psychology
in 2020. For his doctoral thesis, he investigates behavioral
effects of personalized interventions against online norm violations. e-mail:
Anna Baumert
Anna Baumert is Professor for Social and Personality Psychology at
the University of Wuppertal and Leader of the Max Planck Research
Group “Moral Courage” at the Max Planck Institute for Research on
Collective Goods in Bonn. She obtained her PhD in 2009 from the
University of Koblenz-Landau. In her research, she investigates the
interplay of social and personality processes for the explanation of
perceptions and reactions to social injustice.
e-mail:
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