Is It More Common to Persuade Others to Break Up Online? The Influence of Perceived Anonymity on Online Breakup Persuasion Attempts in Others' Romantic Conflict

ABSTRACT In five studies, integrating the Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE) and the Constructivist Model of Wisdom, we examined the social phenomenon of ‘online breakup persuasion’ and explored its influencing factors and underlying mechanisms. In the pilot study ( N = 22,093), to test whether this phenomenon exists, we analyzed the comment characteristics of posts with romantic issues by crawling online comment data. In Study 1 ( N = 592), we examined the influence of perceived anonymity on online breakup persuasion, the mediating role of social distance, and wise reasoning. In Study 2, we further verified the results by manipulating perceived anonymity (study 2a; N = 228), social distance (study 2b; N = 259), and wise reasoning (study 2c; N = 251) respectively. Across the five studies, we found the phenomenon of ‘online breakup persuasion attempts’ is widespread, always accompanied by ridicule, sarcasm, and offensive expressions. The perceived anonymity positively predicted online breakup persuasion, and social distance and wise reasoning played a serial mediating role. However, in view of the limited research focus, future studies should further explore the influence of other factors such as the gender of the poster and the marital status of the advisor on breakup persuasion attempts.