Computer Mediated Communication Timeline

Encyclopedia of Human Relationships

Computer-Mediated Communication

Contributors: Author:Brandon Van Der Heide & Joseph B. Walther

Edited by: Harry T. Reis & Susan Sprecher

Book Title: Encyclopedia of Human Relationships

Chapter Title: "Computer-Mediated Communication"

Pub. Date: 2009

Access Date: February 23, 2021

Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.

City: Thousand Oaks

Print ISBN: 9781412958462

Online ISBN: 9781412958479

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412958479.n98

Print pages: 292-293

© 2009 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Computer-mediated communication is the domain of human communication in which individuals and groups interact, form impressions, establish relationships, and accomplish tasks using networked computers. Although the timing and stylistic features of communication often distinguish online from offline relationship development and management, people can initiate relationships, establish effective groups, and develop personal partnerships using computer systems.

Generally speaking, people interacting on computers have access to fewer nonverbal cues than those who interact in person. Although early research predicted that people would not be able to form meaningful relationships using computer-mediated communication, subsequent studies have demonstrated that relational communication is indeed amenable to online interaction. Because there are fewer nonverbal cues available to people who are interacting on computers, it typically takes longer for people to achieve their interpersonal goals than when they interact on a face-to-face basis. Malcolm Parks provides a useful metaphor for understanding this aspect of computer-mediated communication: Interpersonal interaction via computers is a garden hose. Interpersonal information can flow like water through the hose and fill a container (an interpersonal impression) just as well as can a large fire hose; it just takes longer with the smaller hose. Since the language and timing of written messages exchanged via computer systems convey all the social information, with no additional matter relayed by nonverbal behavior, it takes longer for people interacting on computers to accrue sufficient social information with which to form and transmit impressions and affective influence statements.

In some cases individuals form more positive impressions of others via computer-mediated communication than they would form had they had a face-to-face conversation. This phenomenon is known as hyperpersonal communication. The nature of computer-mediated communication contributes to the phenomenon of hyperpersonal effects. One characteristic is that computermediated communication allows people to carefully select the ways that they present themselves. For example, college students may carefully edit their grammar when they interact with their professors on the computer so that their professors will infer that they are bright and conscientious. Also, because people are not located in the same place during computer-mediated communication and cannot observe their partners' normal appearance and traits, people idealize their partners' charac teristics. For example, a couple who met on an online dating site and had their first interactions online may overattribute the similarity and attractiveness of their partners. Computer-mediated communication also allows users to craft their messages quite deliberately and edit them to fit their desired self- and partner-oriented stereotypes and communication goals. Computer-mediated communication is also hypothesized to foster mutual influence of idealizing responses so that users come to act in ways consistent with the desires their communication partners envision of them. Hyperpersonal communication tends to occur quickly when people plan to have ongoing interaction with others.

One feature that is common in some computermediated communication settings is anonymous communication. Anonymous communication occurs when people communicate with one another without knowing the specific personal identities of those with whom they are interacting. When people are anonymous in computer-mediated groups, they tend to be influenced by group dynamics more strongly than they otherwise would. Researchers believe that this occurs when people are relating to others and thinking of themselves as members of social groups or categories as opposed to operating as if they were unique individuals. This has the effect of causing people in computer-mediated groups to exhibit behavior that is consistent with group norms. This effect is particularly strong when there is another group, an outgroup, which members implicitly reject. The effect of group norms has been used to explain the occasional occurrence of flaming in online groups, that is, the contagious reciprocation of insults and profanities. Early research claimed that this kind of misbehavior was a result of the lack of nonverbal cues in computermediated communication, and individuals' inability to assess situational norms when they were online. Group identification research provides a better account of flaming, however: When it appears in some groups, it is reciprocated and becomes normative for that group. This is why flaming is not endemic to all computer-mediated communication: It is a function of local group norms exacerbated by anonymity, and not a function of online communication per se. Researchers continue to try to uncover what makes people using computer-mediated communication sometimes remain anonymous and rely on group norms to guide their behavior, while other times people seek and reveal unique information about themselves and interact on a personal level.

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As new technologies develop, innovations allow people to interact with others across multiple communication channels. Research is beginning to focus on mixed-mode relationships in which people interact via computers, other media, and in person. Often this occurs when people meet by way of the Internet and continue their relationship through other telecommunications, leading to face-to-face interaction. This progression is typical when people utilize online dating Web sites to meet and establish relationships with potential romantic partners, but it is also common for spontaneous friendships that develop in Internet discussions that are not romantically oriented. An important issue for these mixed-mode relationships is whether people judge the information their partners present about themselves as truthful. Indeed, some research shows that people becoming involved in romantic relationships seek more information about their potential romantic partners than people who are simply friends with one another. Current research is exploring the characteristics of personal information about online acquaintances which make it either more or less believable. It appears that information is more believable when the person it describes is unlikely to be able to create or manipulate it.

New technologies also support mixed-mode relationships that began offline. Social networking technologies such as Facebook and MySpace allow friends to carry on relationships that move between online and offline venues. Social networking technologies also help people to stay in touch easily with larger networks of acquaintances. These technologies have allowed people who were once out of touch to reconnect easily with one another and continue their relationships online. They are a vital tool for relational maintenance.

Brandon Van Der Heide & , and Joseph B. Walther http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412958479.n98 See also

• Communication, Instant Messaging and Other New Media • First Impressions • Internet, Attraction on • Internet Dating • Technology and Relationships

Further Readings

Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C.(2007).A familiar Face(book): Profile elements as signals in an online social network. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 435–444). New York: ACM Press.http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240695 Lea, M., O'Shea, T., Fung, P., & Spears, R.(1992).“Flaming” in computer-mediated communication: Observations, explanations and implications. In M.Lea (Ed.), Contexts of computer-mediated communication (pp. 89–112). London: Harvester-Wheatsheaf. Parks, M. R., and Floyd, K.Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Communication46(1996). 80–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01462.x Walther, J. B.Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research23(1996). 3–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/009365096023001001 Walther, J. B., & Parks, M. R.(2002).Cues filtered out, cues filtered in: Computer-mediated communication and relationships. In M. L.Knapp, & J. A.Daly (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (3rd ed. , pp. 529–563). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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