L10: Absence of Gating In Virtual Relationships

Question 1

What is attraction influenced by in real life?

Answer 1

• Appearance
• Mannerism
• Factors like age and ethnicity

Question 2

What does absence do?

Answer 2

• Being online removes factors that act as barriers
• Creates opportunities for shy or less attractive people to develop romantic relationships
• Absence of gating means people establish virtual identities they could never create face to face

Question 3

Evaluation (+)

Answer 3

(+) Social benefits. Can reduce loneliness by making it easier for some to access social interactions and seek out company. 4000 Ppts 72% of those with internet access were married or had a romantic partner compared to only 36% without internet access. Virtual env helps establish and maintain romantic relationships
(+) Claim that the absence of gating has positive effects on peoples offline relationships. People create an online identity that is appreciated by others, and this enhances their self image and increases quality of face to face relationships
(+) Useful for shy people. Asked 207 male and female ppts to complete a questionnaire scoring in terms of shyness, internet usage and quality of friendships. Those scoring highly on shyness + internet use had high quality of friendship (perceived), not the same for low shyness scores. Online com he,ps to overcome shyness

Question 4

Evaluation (-)

Answer 4

(-) People are involved in online and offline relationships, there are fewer differences between virtual relationships and face to face ones. Research examining virtual ones fails to take into account the effect of those relationships to offline interactions.
(-) Most research’s as conducted in the 1990s and 2000s. Tech is changing rapidly and so is nature of online relationships. Research could be outdated by time and therefore lowers temporal validity