Anonymity can be so appealing. It permits acting without personal consequence or responsibility. Without identification, words and acts are wielded more freely and thoughtlessly. We don’t “own” them. As a Press editorial recently emphasized, retracting the power to post comments anonymously is one way to restore civility by forcing responsible ownership.

Anonymity is a huge factor in society’s increasing incivility and aggressive parlance. Having the power to act without names as a part of everyday, online life puts us in subconscious habits that continue even when names are involved. Would we so easily act and express ourselves without regard for the effect on others if anonymity weren’t possible? Has this made us nastier with one another — from the average person to public figures?

Research suggests the answer is a resounding yes.

Many cultures throughout history ascribed power and mysticism to names. Some believed knowing someone’s name increased power over them. We take great care in naming children; changing marital status inspires name changes (or not) with strong feeling. Stories (remember Rumpelstiltskin?), religious texts, and verses are replete with such connections.

Romeo’s famous soliloquy at Juliet’s balcony asked, “what’s in a name?” Any other may smell as sweet, but we need one to see others as individuals, vested like ourselves with feeling, thought, and human dignity.

And there’s the rub. Scores of studies across ages, generations, and genders show people are more careful when names are exchanged. Less aggressive. More civil. Kind. Quite simply, we recognize mutual humanity more readily when names are involved.

A 2001 study in the British Journal of Social Psychology called “Identifiability and Self-representation” found online users with unknown identities were much more likely to show “flaming behavior,” i.e., hostile or threatening comments or messages. Other research in 1952, 1969 and 1980, summarized in Baylor University’s journal Pulse, similarly concluded that anonymity contributes to the loss of self-awareness and self-evaluation, especially in a group setting (today in chat rooms or blogs), which enables people to participate in “anti-normative” or aggressive behavior.

So what’s the answer? Own it. Names keep us aware of, and more responsible for, our own behavior. Like so many other things which contribute to emotional intelligence and facilitate getting along (the current state of Congress makes the high cost of not getting along painfully obvious), awareness is fundamental to self-control and improvement, which in turn encourages the same in others. Others who, like ourselves, have names and humanity no less worthy of respect.

It’s so much easier to attack someone wearing a mask of anonymity. It’s so much easier not to care about someone whose name, whose personhood, is unknown. Somehow it all feels less real.

The problem is, of course, that it is.

- • •

Sholeh Patrick, J.D. is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.