The Role of Third Parties in Cyber Conflicts: The sima Simulator

Abstract

New media creates opportunities to directly measure how adolescents respond to aggressive situations. In this study, we report on sima, a simulator of digital chats, created to mimic online aggressive interactions within a conflict situation. Adolescents were invited to be part of a digital chat where all interactions were pre-programmed, except for the participants’ interventions, to discuss controversial topics (e.g., animal maltreatment). Two chat members engaged in a conflict programmed to escalate quickly through aggressive insults. Sixth and seventh-grade students (mostly aged 12 to 14; n = 287) from one public school (low ses) and one private school (high ses) participated in the study. Responses to open questions after finishing the chat suggest that the great majority considered that they were taking part in a real online interaction. Aggressive offenses towards other members of the chat were very common. sima opens many options for further research about bystander behavior in aggressive online interactions.