Self Disclosure in Virtual Relationships Flashcards
What is the reduced cues theory?
Spoull and Heister - Online r/.ships are less effective than FtF ones as they lack many of the cues that we depend on such as nonverbal cues like facial expressions, body language, tone of voice and overall physical appearance. This gives insight into our emotional state and leads to deindividuation. This encourages disinhibition when relating to others. VR are more likely to involve blunt and aggressive communication which leads to reluctance to self disclose.
What is the hyperpersonal model?
Walther argued VR can be more personal and involve greater self disclosure. Online r/ships develop very quickly, self disclosure happens earlier. Once established they are more intense and intimate and also end quicker - the high excitement level of the interaction isn’t matched by the level of trust.
Cooper and Sportolari called this the boom and bust phenomenon of online relationships.
What are the two ways that you can present yourself online?
Hyperhonesty and hyperdishonesty
What is manipulating disclosure?
Sender of the message has more time to manipulate their online image then they would in an FtF situation - selective self presentation. People online have more control over what to disclose and the cues they send. It is easier to manipulate self disclosure to promote intimacy by presenting in a positive idealised way.
What is confidence behind a shield?
When your behaviour changes as you are behind a shield and feel protected from consequence eg: disclosing something intimate to someone because there is a shield.
What is greater anonymity?
People are more likely to be truthful about themselves as there is less risk. People feel less judged by a certain partner.
SELF DISCLOSURE IN VR -
Research support?
Whitty and Joinson summarised evidence showing how self presentation is manipulated in virtual r/ships. For example, questions asked in online discussions tended to be direct, probing and intimate. This is quite different from face to face conversations which feature small talk. Self presentation online can also be hyper dishonest as people can invent attractive personal qualities for online dating profiles.
SELF DISCLOSURE IN VR - Practical applications?
School-delivered and online awareness campaigns aim to highlight the dangers of disclosing too much and putting trust in online relationships that may turn out to be based on false identities and/or dangerous/exploitative. Therefore there are benefits that have a tangible impact on helping young people understand how to stay safe online when thinking about self disclosure.
SELF DISCLOSURE IN VR - Cross cultural differences?
Research conducted by Yim & Hara – Found cultural differences between American, Korean and Japanese participants in how disclosure increased or decreased trust.
American P’s reported higher disclosure in virtual relationships led to higher levels of trust, whereas Korean P’s reported higher disclosure in virtual relationships led to lower levels of trust.
SELF DISCLOSURE IN VR - Temporal validity?
Social psychologists suggest that nature of virtual relationships is very close to the ‘stranger on the train’ phenomenon, described by Rubin (1975). He suggests that we are more likely to share personal information with a stranger because we are likely never to see them again. This suggests that there is consistency about this concept over time so the concept of SD has temporal validity
SELF DISCLOSURE IN VR - Limited explanatory power?
Relationships are Multimodal - Walther (2011) argues that relationships are generally conducted online and offline through many different types of media, and this is done interchangeably in modern relationships.
It is very rarely a straightforward matter of ‘either/or’. This is in fact probably the central characteristic of many modern relationships.
Hence, examining the differences in SD in online relationships is theoretically flawed and limit our understanding of the more complex dynamics modern relationships
