Virtual Relationships Flashcards
What are 2 drawbacks of virtual relationships?
Catfishing.
Based purely on face value.
Online identities are user-created, so may not be valid.
What are 2 positives of virtual relationships?
Allows for greater and wider meeting opportunities.
Technology is always advancing, so relationships may feel more real.
Confidence increased, as the person is not face-face.
Facilitating the increase in inter-racial relationships.
Spread the acceptance of homosexual relationships.
Who proposed the Reduced Cues Theory? When?
Sproull and Kiesler in 1986.
What does CMC stand for?
Computer Mediated Communication.
What did Sproull and Kiesler state about CMC relationships?
CMC relationships are less effective than F2F ones because they lack many of the cues we normally depend on in F2F interactions.
What cues are Sproull and Kiesler referring to in the Reduced Cues Theory?
Non-verbal cues like physical appearance, facial expressions, tone of voice and emotional state.
Sproull and Kiesler thought that a reduction in non-verbal cues lead to what? Why?
De-individuation.
This is because it reduces people’s sense of individual identity, which encourages disinhibition.
Virtual relationships are therefore more likely to involve blunt and even aggressive communication.
Sproull and Kiesler believe that the deindividuation created by a lack of cues create aggression and bluntness in relationships.
What did they say this then created?
A reluctance to self-disclose.
You’re unlikely to want to initiate a relationship with someone who is so impersonal, or reveal your inner most feeling to them.
Who proposed the Hyperpersonal Model? When?
Walther, 1996.
What did Walter argue about online relationships?
They can be more personal and involve greater self-disclosure than F2F ones.
Walther believed that CMC relationships can involve greater self-disclosure than F2F ones.
Why?
CMC relationships can develop very quickly as self-disclosure happens earlier, and once established are more intense and intimate.
Who dubbed the ‘boom and bust phenomenon’? What is it?
(Hyperpersonal Model)
Cooper and Sportolari (1997)
CMC relationships can also end quickly if the high excitement of the interaction isn’t matched by the level of trust between the relationship partners.
According to the Hyperpersonal Model, what is a key feature of self-disclosure in virtual relationships?
Selective self-preservation.
Outline Walther’s idea of ‘selective self-preservation’.
The idea that the sender in an online relationship has the time and ability to manipulate their online image, something that wouldn’t be possible F2F.
People online have more control over what to disclose and the cues they send. What does this make it easier to do?
This means it’s much easier to manipulate self-disclosure to promote intimacy in CMC, by self-presenting in a positive and idealised way.
Walther’s idea of selective self-preservation links to what other 2 concepts?
Maslow’s ideas of the self.
You can create your own personal image.
Presenting the self in its best light.
Links to social desirability bias.
What role does anonymity this plays in online relationships?
(Hyperpersonal Model)
When others don’t know your identity, you feel less accountable for your behaviour.
You may well disclose more about yourself to them than you would to an intimate partner.
This links to Bargh et al’s (2002) ‘stranger on the train effect in F2F’
Outline Bargh et al’s (2002) ‘stranger on the train effect in F2F’.
The idea that strangers on a train strike up conversation due to the ease of leaving (getting off the train) and never seeing the other conversing stranger again.
People self-disclose greater due to this effect, as others do not know you (you feel less accountable for what you say).
What is a gate?
(Absence of gating)
A gate in this context is any obstacle to the formation of a relationship.
F2F interaction is said to be gated, in that it involves many features that can interfere with the early development of a relationship.
Examples of gates:
- Distance.
- Disability. (e.g. speech impediment).
- Age.
- Shyness.
- Lack of confidence.
- Occupation.
- Self-esteem (e.g. physical unattractiveness).
- Social anxiety.
Outline the involvement of absence of gating in relationships.
F2F interactions are said to be gated, in that it involves many features that can interfere with the early development of a relationship.
Give 3 examples of gates.
(Absence of gating)
Distance.
Disability. (e.g. speech impediment).
Age.
Shyness.
Lack of confidence.
Occupation.
Self-esteem (e.g. physical unattractiveness).
Social anxiety.
McKenna and Bargh (1999) argue that a huge advantage of CMC is the absence of gating.
Why is this an advantage?
It means that a relationship can develop to the point where self-disclosure become more frequent and deeper.
It allows the relationship to get off the ground.
Absence of gating works by re-focusing attention on self-disclosure rather what may be considered superficial and distracting.
Outline Walther and Tidwell’s research from 1995.
Pointed out that people in online interactions use other cues, such as style and timing of their messages.
For instances taking time to reply to a social media messages can be interpreted as a more intimate act than an immediate response; but not too much time as this could be perceived as a snub.
Acrostics (such as LOL), emoticons and emojis are used as effective substitutes for facial expressions.
Evaluate Walther and Tidwell’s research from 1995.
Presents alternatives in response to a lack of cues, showing that virtual relationships can still be positive.
Challenges reduced cue theory, as it shows that you can have cues online.
Doesn’t have temporal validity - emojis have become better in recent technological advances (communication).
