Author: Kuni Zhao
Zhao, Kuni, 2025 Why do People Engage in Online Shaming? A Social Identity Approach, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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Online shaming, or calling out someone on social media, has become increasingly prevalent, yet its motivations remain unclear. This thesis conceptualises online shaming as a group-based phenomenon shaped by shared social identities and multiple motives. Through a scoping review of multidisciplinary literature, I identified four psychological goals that motivate shaming: punishing the perceived wrongdoer, deterring the perceived wrongdoing, seeking social acknowledgement, and creating change. Topic-modelling analysis of a pandemic-related shaming on Twitter supported these goals and revealed intragroup and intergroup dynamics as also driving online shaming. Two experiments testing an identity-based leadership paradigm showed that people generally resist engaging in shaming to punish others, irrespective of whether they share an identity with the leader. Yet, social identity dynamics can remain influential in particular contexts. Insights from this thesis contribute to both theoretical understanding and practical implications of online shaming, informing the press, platforms, and policymakers to better address this issue.
Keywords: shaming, public shaming, outrage, punishment, vigilantism, social identity, intergroup, intragroup, leader, follower, activism, collective action, digital, social media, online
Subject: Psychology thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2025
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Lydia Woodyatt