Several theories have sought to address responses to normatively deviant behavior, but have done so with a focus either on group-level or on individual-level behavior. Yet, due to some characteristics of online contexts, identities can be salient at both a group and/or individual level, creating a more complex set of influences on responding to deviance. We explore responses to online communicative deviance by integrating social identity approaches (a group-level perspective) and expectancy violations theory (an individual-level perspective). Social identity emphasizes the role of group identification in responding to deviance, especially relevant in anonymous online contexts, while expectancy violations theory notes how individuals respond to ambiguous deviance through assessing the reward value of the deviant.

Couched within the self-effects paradigm of social media influence, this research examines how posting a health promotion message to one's social media influences one's own, versus others', later health behaviors, with emphasis on emotional intensity and message sharing directives. 382 participants viewed one of eight versions of a melanoma awareness video and were given the opportunity to post it to their Facebook page. Video sharers reported increased sun safety behavior one week later, even after accounting for a range of sun safety-related predictors. Emotional intensity and self-efficacy emerged as key message sharing predictors. These findings align with cognitive dissonance theory, offering unique evidence in a mediated context with relatively enduring effects, and expands the dialogue about the self-persuasive power of social media.

Extant research indicates that professional law enforcement officers (LEOs) are generally no better than untrained novices at detecting deception. Moreover, traditional training methods are often less effective than no training at all at improving successful detection. Compared to the traditional training, interactive digital games can provide an immersive learning environment for deeper internalization of new information through simulated practices. VERITAS—an interactive digital game—was designed and developed to train LEOs to better detect reliable deception cues when questioning suspects and determining the veracity of their answers. The authors hypothesized that reducing players' reactance would mitigate resistance to training, motivate engagement with materials, and result in greater success at deception detection and knowledge. As hypothesized, LEOs playing VERITAS showed significant improvement in deception detection from the first to the second scenario within the game; and the low-reactance version provided the most effective training. The authors also compared various responses to the game between LEOs and a separate undergraduate student sample. Relative to students, findings show LEOs perceived VERITAS to be significantly more intrinsically motivating, engaging, and appealing as a deception detection activity.

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