virtual relationships in social media Flashcards
define self disclosure
when an individual reveals intimate or personal information about themselves to another person
what is the hyper personal model
a model which suggest that self-disclosure in online relationships happens earlier than in face-to-face relationships, becoming more intense, intimate and meaningful. However also suggests these types of relationships may end earlier as it is hard to sustain same level of self disclosure for so long
according to the hyper personal model, why are virtual relationships seen to feel more intimate
- it is easier to manipulate self disclosure online than it is face-to-face.
- individuals in an online conversation have more time to edit their responses to present themselves in a positive light
- this makes an online partner want to disclose more personal information increasing intensity of relationship
what is selective self-presentation
the idea that virtual relationships are felt to be more intense as individuals have more time to edit their responses to be seen in a more positive light
how does the hyper personal model relate to the stranger on a train phenomenon
suggest that we are more likely to share personal information with a stranger because we believe we will never see them again
what is the reduced cues theory
- suggests that online relationships might be less open and honest than face to face
- in real life we rely on subtle cues such as expressions or tone of voice which aren’t present in virtual relations
- this leads to deindividuation which decreases feeling of individual identity causing behaviours that people usually restrain themselves from doing therefore decreasing levels of self disclosure
define what is meant by gates
a feature or obstacle that could interfere with the development of a face to face relationship such as attraction, age or ethnicity.
outline the effect of the absence of gating in virtual relationships
- creates more opportunities for shy and less attractive individuals to develop relationships as there is little distraction from the connection between individuals that might no have previously occurred so individuals are more likely to portray their true self
evaluate self disclosure
1) issue and debate= culture bias- research into virtual relationships is based on experiences of mainly western and tech developed cultures. Internet tech is not readily available in some countries so conclusions about the development and effects of virtual communication cant are applied to them. in addition, self-disclosure differs across cultures, research found Japanese women preferred lower levels of self-disclosure compared to Americans.
2) reduced cue theory may be inaccurate- the theory suggests that nonverbal cues are missing entirely, however it has been found that they are different rather than absent. Researchers pointed out that people in online interactions use other cues such as style or timing of the message, but also emoticons or emojis are used as substitutes for facial expression- this shows that virtual interactions can be just as personal as those conducted face to face
3) self-disclosure may be due to biology rather than anonymity ect. researchers conducted an MRI and found activity in two regions of the brain associated with reward. These areas were strongly activated when individuals were talking about themselves and less when talking about others. This suggests that the human tendency to share over social media may arise from the rewarding nature of self-disclosure
4) low historical validity- an issue with research relevant to virtual relationships is that they go out of date quickly, much of the research was conducted prior to 2000 and the way individuals interact with people on Snapchat, emojis, etc are likely to be very different to the tech viewed in the research
evaluate gating
1) issue and debate= culture bias- research into virtual relationships is based on experiences of mainly western and tech developed cultures. Internet tech is not readily available in some countries so conclusions about the development and effects of virtual communication cant are applied to them. in addition, self-disclosure differs across cultures, research found Japanese women preferred lower levels of self-disclosure compared to Americans.
2) low historical validity- an issue with research relevant to virtual relationships is that they go out of date quickly, much of the research was conducted prior to 2000 and the way individuals interact with people on Snapchat, emojis, etc are likely to be very different to the tech viewed in the research
3) research support for absence of gating- researchers suggest that the absence of gating in virtual relationships may be useful for shy individuals, they asked 207 male and female PPS to complete a questionnaire, scoring answers in terms of shyness, internet use, and perception of quality of friendships. They found individuals who scored highly on shyness and internet use perceived the quality of friendships as high which was absent for individuals with low shyness scores. This implies that online communication helps overcome shyness so the quality of face to face communication also improves
