virtual relationships Flashcards
what are 3 things we talk about in virtual relationships in social media
- reduced cues theory
- hyper personal model
3.absence of gating
reduced cues theory
who made it?
what do they say?
sproull and Kessler
suggested that online relationships are less effective than face to face. this is because there are absence of non verbal communication cues such as tone and facial expressions. this leads to deindivuation where a person feels reduced sense of indivuality this leads to disinhibition therefore online relationships are blunt and aggressive.
what is hyper personal model?
who made it?
what do they say?
Walther
he suggest that relationships online can involve more self disclousre and become intense and intimate more quickly but also more likely to end quickly ( boom and bust idea). it can happen quickly because person has more time to manipulate their image and think carefully before saying a response. a person is more likely going to reveal more personal information because of anonymity as strangers don’t know their friends or family.
what is absence of gating in virtual relationship? ( 2)
who are 2 psychologist and what do they say about absence of gating
A “gate” is an obstacle in formation and development of a relationship. for e.g physical unattractiveness, shyness or anxiety
2) McKenna and bargh 1999 suggest that these gates are absence in online relationship so it becomes easier and quicker for relationship to become intimate. this is because they focus on what the person is saying and people can create personas which are different to them in real life.
what is evaluation of virtual relationships
Johnson (2009) looked at online communication and found that discussions are often direct, involving intimate questions. This supports the hyper personal model explanation of why self-disclosure can take place more quickly in CMC.
There is evidence that self-disclosure happens less regularly on dating websites, due to the anticipation of face-to-face meetings in the future. This weakens explanations of virtual relationships, as they may not be applicable to all types of online relationships
McKenna and Bargh (2000) found that romantic relationships that initially formed online were 70% likely to last more than two years- a higher proportion than ‘offline’ relationships. This supports the absence of gating being a factor in the success of online relationships.
