virtual relations in social media Flashcards
(5 cards)
what is the reduced cues theory
virtual relations lack non verbal cues to our emotional state such as facial expressions and tone of voice, this leads to deindividualisation as it reduces peoples sense of individual identity. this encourages disinhibition and use of aggressive communication. this leads to reluctance to self disclose. peeople will be less likely to initiate a relationship with them. this is why vr are less effective than face to face ones.
what is the hyper personal model
wather argues vr can be more personal and involve more self disclosure than face to face ones. this is because vr can develop very quickly and self disclosure happens earlier, once established theyre more intense and intimate
the 2 features of hyperpersonal self disclosure in personal relationships
the sender of a message has greater control over what to disclose and the cues they send than in ftf interactions. this is selective presentation. the sender manipulates their self image to present themselves in an ideal way. to achieve this, self disclosures can be intensely truthful and or intensely false.
the receiver of the messanges gains a positive impression of the sender, they may give feedback that reinforces the senders selective self presentation
how does anonymity explain high levels of self disclosure in internet relationships
the danger of self disclosure in ftf relationships is that confidentiality can be violated or people will respond negatively to it. self disclosures with online acquaintances are like strangers on a train. we are more likely to self disclose information to people we dont know and probably wont see again
what is the absence of gating in VR
a gate is any obstacle to forming a relationship. ftf relationships are gated due to things like physical appearance and mannerisms. there is an absence of this in social media
this means a vr can develop to the point where self disclosure is more frequent. therefore the relationship can get off the ground in a way thats less likely to happen in a ftf relationship. absence of gates focuses the attention on self disclosure.
with the absence of gates individuals can be themselves more than in ftf interactions. they can also create untrue personalities of themselves and deceive their partner.
what is the A03 for virtual relationships
absence of gating is supported by research- psychologist surveyed 207 male and female students about their shyness,facebook usage and the quality of friendships. they found that students who scored high on shyness,greater use of facebook with associated with higher perceptions of friendship quality, for those who scored low on shynessm facebook usage wasnt associated with perception of friendship quality
a limitation of the reduce cues theory in vr is that non verba cues arent absent from relationships theyre just different. e.g. people use emojis as substitutes for facial expressions. people in online interactions also use other cues such as style and timing of messages. this is a limitation as it doesnt recognise that people can express their emotional state in a vr
theres a lack of supporting evidence- meta analysis by ruppert et al found self disclosure was greater in ftf relationships than it was in vr . this is a limitation as it contradicts the hyper personal models view that greater intimacy of vr leads to more self disclosure than in ftf relationships
it has low historical validity- most of the research took place in the early 2000s. early vr lacked visual face to face interaction which meant less rich non verbal communication, the way we interact over ffacetime could be different to the technologies being used at the time the theories were outlined. this is a limitation because social platforms change.
