VIRTUAL RELATIONSHIPS Flashcards
Theories for virtual relationships
- hyper personal model
- reduced cues theory
hyper personal model by walther
walther proposed that self disclousre happens earlier in virtual relationships rather than in face - to - face relationships.
- walther also said that virtual relationships may feel more intimate as it is easier to manipulate self disclosure online ( selective self presentation)
stranger on a train theory
rubin (1975) suggested strangers on train phenomenon suggesting that we are more likely to do self disclosure with strangers as we are never gonna see them again.
reduced cues theory
sproull and kiesler suggested that the online relationships could be less open and honest than face to face relationships and a lot of clues are missing in virtual relationship.
- it then leads to de-individualisation as it diminishes peoples feeling of individual identity and brings on behaviours that people rrestrain from displaying such as aggression.
absence of gating
- in virtual relationships, barriers or gates like: age, appereance etc are missing which creates more opportunities even for shy and less attractive people.
research examining virtual relationships
rosenfeld and thomas (2012) found that out of 4000 participants studied, 71.8% of those with internet access were married or had a romantic relationship compared to 35.9% without internet access. the findings suggests that virtual environment helps people to establish and maintain romantic rekationships.
research examining absence of gating
Zhao et al. (2008) claim that the absence of gating, and more meaningful self-disclosure online also has positive effects on people’s offline relationships. As they can create an online identity that is appreciated by others, it enhances their overall self-image and increases the quality of their face-to-face relationships as well. This supports the suggestion
evaluation of virtual relationships
- lacks temporal validity as most of the researches were done in early 2000s and late 1990s.
- most of the researches are based on western relationships, which lowers the validity.
- however researches such as rosenfeld and thomass research supports the prediction.
evaluation for absence of gating
doesnt explain the differences between males and females.
- as described by the evolutionary theory, males tend to be more resourceful whereas women tend to be more attractive- which could establish a beta bias in this area- making the research less valid.
