“I want to be different from others in cyberspace” The role of visual similarity in virtual group identity

The present study investigated the impact of the visual similarity shared among virtual group members on group identity and conformity. In achieving this goal, the current study distinguished the similarity coming from being in the same experimental group (i.e., transient group membership) and the similarity coming from the same social group membership (i.e., lasting group membership), in response to the critique that these two group memberships have not been set apart in previous computer-mediated group research. The current study also attended to the fact that previous research on computer-mediated groups restricted personality traits that might have affected group identity formation and conformity in virtual groups. In response to this constraint, the present study included participants’ needs to be different from others (NFU) and needs for inclusion (ISC) to a hypothesized path model that was founded on the SIDE model. Furthermore, the author examined whether the same hypothesized path model could uphold across the differentiated levels of similarity shared among group members.