Effects of the Absence of Gating in Virtual Relationships Flashcards
What is absence of gating?
In virtual relationships, it is thought the relationship has developed enough so that when they meet, the stuttering, level of attractiveness or shyness doesn’t matter because the bond has strengthened to the point where the relationship will continue. So absence of gates allows the relationship to develop and refocus attention on self disclosure not superficial things like how someone looks or sounds
What are the benefits of absence of gating?
The benefits of Aof G is that the individual is ‘freed’ to represent themselves more like their ‘real selves’, more than in f2f interactions - so the relationship can ‘get off the ground in a way that cannot happen F2F. Self disclosure becomes quicker and deeper Reduces focus on ‘superficial’ factors so relationships have more chance to be created for those who are less confident or have poor f2f social skills
What are the drawbacks of absence of gating?
The drawbacks of Aof G however are that it allows people to create untrue identities and deceive people in ways they could not do f2f eg. change your gender, become an extrovert from an introvert, a plain person to a sex symbol or even create a ‘second life’ as an avatar to present themselves in virtual reality
ABSENCE OF GATING - Research support?
Bargh et al found that intimacy developed quicker in virtual relationships compared to physical relationships because of a lack of gating features. Also McKenna – found that the removal of gating features in VR allowed disadvantaged people (such as those with a lack of physical beauty, issues with social situations etc) to enter relationships. This supports the idea that the reason intimacy develops quicker in VR is because there are less barriers to putting people off which helps people who otherwise may not have been able to start a relationship f2f.
ABSENCE OF GATING - Theoretical flaws?
This is an issue as evolutionary theory would suggest that females would want to know potential deficiencies/ genetic flaws potential partners might have, given that they make a bigger investment in reproductive activities and have to be sure about the person they are choosing to mate with.
This suggests that the advance of virtual relationships does not account for evolutionary drives to choose a partner
ABSENCE OF GATING - Cultural differences?
Internet technology is not readily available in some countries, so the conclusions of virtual communication on romantic relationships cannot be applied to them. In addition, attitudes to self-disclosure are different in different cultures. For example, Nakanishi (1986) found that, in contrast to American culture, women in Japan preferred lower levels of self-disclosure in close relationships. So the level of self-disclosure depends on cultural norms.
ABSENCE OF GATING - Gender differences?
Research evidence by McKenna et al. (2002) found that women rated their relationships formed online as more intimate, and valued self-disclosure, especially in regards to emotion, more highly than men.
Men, on the other hand, preferred activities-based (such as common interests in motorsports) disclosure, and rated their online relationships as less close than face-to-face ones.
This suggests that research into online relationships may show alpha-bias, as it assumes that males’ and females’ experiences on virtual relationships are different.
ABSENCE OF GATING - Counter for gender differences?
However, it could be that male and female experiences of virtual relationships are similar BUT there are methodological issues with the research in this area that exaggerates the differences the data is based on self-report, so bias may occur (particularly social desirability bias).(e.g. the choice of interview/questionnaires as a research tool so the validity of the results could be questioned
