Behavioral Processes in Online Identity-Related Issues

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Background

With the development of advanced media technologies, cyberspace is gradually transforming from temporal immersion into a state of new normal. An increasing proportion of our daily lives has become a mix of physical and virtual worlds. As a complex social psychological phenomenon, online social identity has attracted widespread attention from academia to industry. Identity-related issues have been noted as an important subject of Internet interdisciplinary research, including social psychology, sociology, personality psychology, and health psychology. Communication in cyberspace always carries some degrees of anonymity, for users present virtual identities constructed by themselves in cyberspace, hiding their real identities and constructing their online identities as a form of social identity enactment. On the other hand, online media provides tools and environments for virtual identity building.

Although the anonymity of the internet facilitates the subjects' construction of their virtual identity, their online virtual identity is not completely anonymous and can be identified and authenticated online, thereby meaning we can research how online identity relates to real world identity. Identification is a social process that matches internal self-identity with external identity types, and it is also a process and a reflection of internal perceptions, and mere identification with a group has been shown to dramatically affect behavior (as per social identity theory).

Based on the emerging usage of information technologies, identity-related issues extend to the dimensions of sociology and psychology. Emerging media technologies like web 2.0/3.0, digital audio-visual technologies, information security technologies, mobile terminal digital technologies, and communication technologies are substantial contributions to identity creation and maintenance. The implementation of these technologies impacts our online behaviors by directing us to act in certain ways or presenting certain personalities. Online identity also extends from the realm of self-construction and social interaction to the professional setting by creating a new type of labor, that is the digital work of managing own professional identity online. In the digital society constructed by emerging technologies, online identity construction and related research fields need to be further expanded and extended.

In responding to the challenges in identity issues in the virtual world, this Research Topic invites contributions from a variety of conceptual, theoretical, and empirical perspectives. We particularly welcome behavioral research that explores the new understanding regarding psychological processes in online identity-related issues. We hope the submissions can answer the important questions in the digital existence and development of digital society, and advance our understanding of how online identity can be designed and constructed for improving digital lifestyles through social identity enactment. We also encourage theoretical and empirical explorations on how online identities could relate to better well-being in this new form of digital society.

The manuscripts received under this Research Topic should be focused on achieving an understanding of psychological processes, especially social psychological processes in the online environment, especially in comparison to previous conceptualizations of identity. Papers that focus on social identity approach research will be prioritized.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

1. Psychological processes in personal branding and reputation on social networking sites
2. Trust and distrust in the virtual world
3. Self-construction in the online environment
4. Privacy and ethical issues in online identity
5. Online identity construction of different roles, such as consumers, tourists, students, scholars, investors, musicians, entrepreneurs, economists
6. Online identity construction and people’s well being
7. Digital footprints and online identity
8. Online identity in the virtual world
9. Human behaviors in online identity construction
10. Digital identity management in the virtual word
11. The application of emerging technologies in online identity
12. Psychological states and online identity construction
13. Motivations for online identity construction
14. Social identity in online movements

Keywords: Identity, internal reflection, virtual identity, online security, virtual presentation, behavioral process, media technologies, social identity, social identity approach, social identity theory

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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