Lecture 4 Flashcards
what is the central importance of social relationships for team performance?
- Team needs to work together towards a common goal
- Team performance is strongly dependent on team cohesiveness
- In establishing this, communication is key!
Which 3 factors are in the socio-emotional process?
- Trust
- Relationship building
- Cohesion
What does reduced (non-verbale) social signals in CMC lead to?
Reduced social presence
What is social presence?
the extent to which one perceives the other person as physically and/or mentally present in the conversation
What happens when social presence is reduced?
people feel less socially connected
Which factors negatively influenced in a study by Bente et al. (2008) when using text instead of video
- Presence
- Satisfaction
- Intimacy
- trust
What is the ‘Online disinhibition effect’ ?
- Anonymity in CMC makes people less concerned with being positively evaluated by others
- This makes people disinhibited: they dare to say anythink they think without concern for other’s feelings
What did a study show about cyberbullying and disinhibition?
cyberbullying is positively related to feeling anonymous and disinhibited
What is the Social information processing theory about? (Walther, 1992)
Building social relationships
What is the assumption about building social relationships? (Walther, 1992)
people are intrinsically motivated to:
- Reduce interpersonal uncertainty
- Form impressions of one another
- Develop affinity (need to belong)
CMC has less non-verbal cues (bandwidth) than FTF which results in…?
- Takes longer for relationships to develop
- Increased reliance on available channels
What do people do to handle the issue of less non-verbal cues in CMC?
- People adapt their interpersonal communication to whatever cues remain available in CMC
- People develop alternative strategies that substitute for those used in FTF
What is hyper-personal communication?
Observation that sometimes more intimate/close social relationships develop more rapidly online than offline
Which 4 effects contribute to hyper-personal communication? (Walther, 1996)
- Sender
- Receiver
- Channel
- Feedback
How does the ‘sender’ contribute to hyper-personal communication?
Selective self-presentation
How does the ‘Receiver’ contribute to hyper-personal communication?
- Filling in the blanks
- Stereotypical, positively biased attributions
How does the ‘Channel’ contribute to hyper-personal communication?
- Greater control (editing)
- No physical interference (less cogn. load)
How does ‘Feedback’ contribute to hyper-personal communication?
Behavioral confirmation. Self-fulfilling prophecy
What is ‘electronic portrayal’?
The extent to which a communication system reveals the true identity of its users
What did the study of Altschuller & Benbunan-Fich (2013) find about building social relationships?
- Researched Trust and Electronic Portrayal
- Electronic Portrayal Continuum
- Low and high electronic portrayal = low trust
- Partial electronic portrayal = Highest point of trust - Combines:
- Hyperpersonal Model
- Social Presence theory
What are popular explanations for online escalation?
- People become asocial online
- Online messages are vague and ambiguous
Why does ‘Online messages are vague and ambiguous’ explain online escalation?
Due to their reduced cues they can be easily misinterpreted.” (formalized in media richness theory; Daft & Lengel, 1986)
Why do people become asocial online?
Due to anonymity and reduced social presence they do not care about the impression they make on others.” (formalized in online disinhibition effect; Suler, 2004)
What is the traditional scientific explanation of online escalation?
Affordances -> psychological change -> Behavioral change
What is the problem with the traditional scientific explanation of online escalation?
(Affordances -> psychological change -> Behavioral change)
Affordances disable and enable behavior
(Affordances -> > Behavioral change -> psychological change)
How do people prevent misunderstanding & conflict FtF?
- Responsiveness
- reduce Ambiguity
What is Responsiveness? (e.g., Davis & Perkowitz, 1979)
the degree to which interaction partners provide instant feedback to each other (e.g., by nodding or humming in response)
What is Ambiguity? (e.g., Bavelas et al., 1990)
indirect and vague expression (e.g., “I do not know for sure”, “maybe”, “sort of”)
What type of behavior are Responsiveness and Ambiguity?
Diplomatic behaviors
What are the results of behavioral change on how small groups deal with disagreement online and offline?
- less responsiveness and less ambiguity online
- No disinhibited behavior!
What are the results of psychological change on how small groups deal with disagreement online and offline?
- feel more ignored and observe more disinhibition online
- No self-perceived disinhibition! - More disagreement and less solidarity experienced online
- No real disagreement!
What are the result of behavioral change on psychological change on how small groups deal with disagreement online and offline?
online changes behavior and that is related to experiencing disinhibition and disagreement
What are the pros & cons of Video-conferencing?
- More social cues and visibility
- Responsiveness and ambiguity might be re-introduced
- Maybe less room for hyperpersonal (idealized) impressions
- Still not synchronous and lack of eye contact -> people interrupted and less connectedness (e.g., Kaiser et al., 2022)
What happens with colleagues with established relationships?
- Modality switching (Ramirez & Sumner, 2015)
- Expectations based on prior experiences with the same person
What is Modality switching? (Ramirez & Sumner, 2015)
shifting of interactions from one communication. channel to another
What happens with colleagues with status differences?
Dominant behavior expected from higher status other (Leffler et al., 1982)
- Interruptions
- Unresponsiveness
- Forceful, confident statements
