Gender identification, interdependence, and pseudonyms in CMC: Language patterns in an electronic conference

A quasi-experimental study examines how pseudonymous identification in a co mputer-mediated communication (CMC) context might (1) reflect a motivation for gender-based status parity and (2) mitigate supposed gender-based commu nication differences associated with social interdependence. One hundred an d fourteen undergraduate students were assigned to participate in one of tw o separate computer-based, bulletin-hoard-style discussion groups or "forum s," In one forum, participants were identified by their real names while pa rticipants in the other were identified by self-chosen pseudonyms, Consiste nt with expectations, analyses of conference transcripts and pseudonym choi ces indicated that(1) women tended to mask their gender with their pseudony m choice while males did not, and (2) women in both forums generally tended to exhibit certain dimensions of social interdependence more frequently th an men, These dimensions included references to others, references to self, and supporting statements. Contrary to expectations, pseudonymous identifi cation was not associated with a statistically significant mitigation of ge nder differences in three of the four indicators of social interdependence. With respect to incidences of self-references, to a statistically signific ant degree, gender differences in the pseudonymous forum were less often ma nifested than in the real-name forum.