Identi-scope: Multiple identities as a resource for understanding and impacting behaviours in the digital world

最近伦敦的学生抗议活动和阿拉伯世界各地的民主抗议活动表明，理解由在线互动驱动的同步（政治）行动的重要性。具有一系列不同个人和社会身份的个人，分布在许多不同的社交网络或聊天媒介上，以改变自我和社会的方式在在线和离线世界中进行互动。这种线上和线下世界向数字世界的融合，需要研究线上和线下身份之间的关系。利用计算机安全、技术和隐私研究人员关于在线环境中多重身份重要性的证据，以及社会心理学家关于多重身份对理解和改变行为的作用的研究，在这项为期12个月的范围界定研究中，我们将解决三个相互关联的问题：1)第一个问题是身份显著性问题；如果人们有多重身份，我们怎么知道在任何给定的时间，对一个人来说，什么身份是显著的？2)第二个问题是身份连续性/身份变化的问题：在多重身份的情况下，是什么让特定的身份得以维持，又是什么导致了变化？3)第三个问题是身份作为弹性因素的问题：限制或增加个人可获得的身份数量是否会影响他们承受压力生活事件的能力？为了探索身份突出性的动态本质，我们将进行一系列实验室实验，利用在线环境来探索个人和社会身份突出性的动态变化。考虑到在线身份环境（即点击一个按钮）与离线身份交互之间可能发生的快速变化，或者几个在线身份可以同时活跃（而不是依次）的事实，我们的目标是利用在线参与的属性（或可能性）来确定确定身份显著性的关键特征。为了研究身份连续性/改变的问题，我们将进行一系列实验，要求参与者作为群体成员或作为孤立的个人一起行动（被卷入其中）。然后，我们将测试在群体中采取的行动在作为社会群体成员或作为孤立个体时更持久的程度。为了能够在在线环境中进行这些实验，我们将开发一个在线协作平台，允许参与者同时做出行为（以吸引），而不是依次做出贡献。同步行为在在线世界中基本上没有被探索过（因为当个人可以共同在场时，娱乐是交互的一个关键特征，但在互联网上的虚拟或分布式交互中就更难了）。建立这样一个“夹带”特定身份的平台，不仅对未来的网络社交媒体具有深远的意义，而且对应对特定群体或个人产生的威胁的安全策略和机制也具有深远的意义。为了检验身份作为弹性因素的影响，我们将进行一系列实验，使用冷压力任务-一种众所周知的引起身体不适的心理学方法。在冷压任务中，参与者被要求将他们的手浸入一桶冰水中，直到手腕。参与者将手放在水里的时间（以秒为单位）被记录下来，作为耐力/恢复力的衡量标准。通过在网络世界中进行身份操纵，但在线下世界中观察弹性行为，我们弥合了对在线参与如何影响线下行为特别感兴趣的数字鸿沟。

The recent student protests in London and the pro-democracy protests across the Arab world show the importance of understanding synchronised (political) actions driven by online interactions. Individuals with a range of different personal and social identities, distributed across a number of different social network or chat mediums, interact in both online and offline worlds in ways that transform self and society. This merging of the online and offline worlds into a digital world, requires a study of how online and offline identities relate.Drawing on evidence from computer security, technology and privacy researchers about the importance of multiple identities in online environments, and research from social psychologists about the role of multiple identities for understanding and changing behaviour, in this 12-month scoping study we will address three interrelated questions:1) The first question is the issue of identity salience: if people have multiple identities, how do we know what identity is salient for an individual at any given time? 2) The second question is the issue of identity continuity/ identity change: in a landscape of multiple identities, what allows particular identities to be sustained - and what leads to change?3) The third question is the issue of identity as a resilience agent: does constraining or enhancing the number of identities available to an individual have effects on their ability to withstand stressful life events?To explore the dynamic nature of identity salience, we will conduct a series of laboratory experiments which utilise online environments to explore dynamic shifts in the salience of personal and social identities. Given the rapid shifts that are possible between online identity environments (i.e. the click of a button) compared to offline identity interactions - or the fact that several online identities can be active at the same time (rather than sequentially) - we aim to use the properties (or possibilities) of online engagements to identify the key features in determining identity salience.To examine the question of identity continuity/change we will conduct a series of experiments in which participants are required to act together (to become entrained) and to do so as group members or as isolated individuals. We will then test the degree to which actions undertaken in the group are more long-lasting when performed as members of a social group or as isolated individuals. To be able to conduct these experiments in online settings, we will develop an online collaborative platform that allows participants to contribute simultaneous behaviours (in order to entrain) rather than make sequential contributions. Synchronous behaviours are largely unexplored in online worlds (as entrainment is a key feature of interactions when individuals can be co-present, but much harder in virtual or distributed interactions on the internet). The establishment of such a platform to "entrain" specific identities has not only profound implications for future online social media but also for security strategies and mechanisms to counter threats emerging from specific groups or individuals.To examine the impact of identity as a resilience agent, we will conduct a series of experiments using the cold-pressor task - a well-known psychological method for inducing physical discomfort. In the cold-pressor task participants are asked to submerge their hand, up to their wrist, into a bucket of ice water. The time (in seconds) that participants keep their hand in the water is recorded and serves as a measure of endurance/ resilience. By conducting identity manipulations in online worlds, but looking at resilience behaviour in offline worlds, we bridge the digital divide that is of particular interest in how online-engagement shapes offline action.