Audience Responses to Online Public Shaming in Online Environments: Mixed Methods Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Incidents of online public shaming can have devastating consequences for those who are shamed, but how those who witness shaming behaviors react is unclear. When considering online public shaming, it is crucial to be aware of the context in which it occurs. Implicit norms that govern these contexts and evoke emotions can influence what is deemed as acceptable behavior when witnessing public shaming. However, previous work has not examined the role that perceived social acceptability of the shaming content and emotional arousal may have in explaining social media behavior after witnessing online shaming incidents.

Objective

We posed three research questions to explore and characterize people's reactions to witnessing online public shaming: (1) Does perceived social

SUBMITTER: Chen AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12329387 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature