Virtual Relationships in Social Media (Relationships)

Question 1

Reduced Cues theory

Answer 1

Sproull and Kiesler (1986)

• Computer mediated communication (CMC) relationships are less effective than face-to face (FtF) because non verbal communication, like body language, is missing.
• Results in texts being misinterpreted

Question 2

Anonymity

Answer 2

Leads to Deindividualisation

Which are reduced feelings of responsibility, lowering inhibition

People say things online they wouldn’t face to face resulting in feelings of intimacy

Question 3

Absence of Gating mechanisms

Answer 3

Communicating through internet removes factors that normally acts as filters to interacting in face to face encounters

Attractiveness, speech defects, age group and social and ethnic backgrounds

Question 4

Hyperpersonal Model

Answer 4

A person sending a message has the time to manipulate their self image.

-means people have control over their disclosure and use it to promote intimacy in CMC by appearing desirable or hyper-honest through carefully controlling mechanisms

Question 5

Negative Evaluations of Virtual Relationships

Answer 5

Lack of temporal validity where these theories were constructed when online interaction were text based

Skype and Snapchat mean gating mechanisms are back

VR can lead to lack of social skills making real-life relationships much more difficult to form

Question 6

Positive Evaluations of Virtual Relationships

Answer 6

McKenna and Bargh (2000)

argued that a huge advantage of CMC is the absence of gating

• this means that a relationship can develop to the point where self-disclosure becomes more frequent and deeper

70% of online relationships survived compared to the 50% of relationships starting in the real world

Virtual relationships reduce loneliness where the absence of gating mechanism can help people to form relationships