Relationships -> Virtual Relationships Flashcards
Hyper-Personal Model
- Increased self-disclosure in virtual relationships
- Relationships become deeper quicker
- Difficult to sustain the same level of intense self-disclosure
- Selective self-presentation
- Edit their responses to present themselves in a more positive light
Strengths of the Hyper-Personal Model
- Online discussion forums both questions and answers tend to be more direct, probing and intimate than in everyday face-to-face interactions, as the hyper-personal model would predict.
Weaknesses of the Hyper-Personal Model
- More durable than other relationships
- Open self-disclosure early on in the relationship
- Self-disclosure varies
- Gaming sites vs dating websites
- Face-to-face encounters in the future.
Reduced Cue Theory
- Spoull and Kiesler
- Less open and honest than face-to-face ones
- Subtle cues are absent in virtual relationships.
- Deindividuation
- Brings on behaviours that people usually restrain themselves from
- Consequence of this is less self-disclosure from other people
Weaknesses of the Reduced Cue Theory
- Social media lacked face-to-face interaction
- Advanced technology allows for live interaction, which is much more similar to real life interactions.
- The cues are just different
- Emoticons are used as substitutes for facial expression and intonation.
- The timing of responses is also an important form of non-verbal communication
Absence of Gating in Virtual Relationships
- Factors such as distance, lack of physical attractiveness, social awkwardness are not as important online
- More opportunities for shy or less attractive people to develop romantic relationships.
- People can establish virtual identities they could never create face-to-face
Strengths of Absence of Gating in Virtual Relationships
- Zahoa et al. claim
- Enhances their overall self-image
- Baker and Oswald
- Useful for shy people
- People who scored highly on shyness and internet use, perceived the quality of their friendships as high.
- Online communication helps people to overcome their shyness, so the quality of their face-to-face communication also improves.
Weaknesses of Absence of Gating in Virtual Relationships
- Most of the research examining gating was conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As technology is changing rapidly, so is the nature of online relationships; therefore, psychological research in this area risks becoming outdated by the time it is published. This lowers the temporal validity of research into virtual relationships
- People are involved in both online and offline relationships every day; it’s not an either/or situation. This means that there are fewer differences between virtual relationships and face to face relationships than research seems to suggest, and research examining virtual relationships often fails to take into account the effect of these relationships on a person’s offline interactions, and vice versa.
Parasocial Relationships
Parasocial relationships: One-sided relationships with a celebrity where a fan knows everything about the subject of their adoration and feels very close to them, but there is no chance of reciprocity. Levels;
- Entertainment-Social
- Intense-Personal
- Borderline-Pathological
Entertainment-Social
- Most people
- Celebrities are seen as a source of entertainment and a topic for light-hearted gossiping with friends.
Intense-Personal
- Deeper level of parasocial relationships
- Private obsession and feeling of personal connection with a celebrity
Borderline-Pathological
- Most intense level of parasocial relationships.
- Obsessive fantasies about the celebrity and spends large sums of money to obtain memorabilia
- They may show uncontrollable/extreme behaviours such as stalking.
Absorption Addiction Model
- Make up for inadequacies/deficiencies/dissatisfaction in a person’s real life/relationships
- Sense of identity
- Addictive nature will escalate through the levels of parasocial relationships
Absorption
People with weaker personal identity may become totally preoccupied consumed with the life of a celebrity and begin to identify with them.
Addiction
The person seeks even greater involvement so the parasocial relationship becomes all consuming.
