Reduced cues

• A01 content of reduced cues?

  • There is a reduced amount of non-verbal cues (facial expression, tone of voice) 
  • CMC relationships will be less successful than FtF relationships due to a decreased emotional cue from facial expression. We are less aware of people’s emotional cues as a result. 
  • This can also lead to deindividuation where we do not see the other person as an individual, our behaviour becomes more disinhibited. We become more blunt or aggressive. 
  • Researchers believe we are less likely to form intimate relationships as we would not want to disclose anything to anyone impersonal
• Negative evaluation regarding non-verbal cues?

  • Researchers argue that the theory is wrong to argue that nonverbal cues are missing from CMC.
  • Non-verbal cues are not missing but different. People use other cues like timing or style of messages.
  • Replying to a message a while after may be a snub but replying to soon may be seen as not having put thought into their response.
  • In addition, people may also use acrostics like LOL or emojis to display tone.
  • This shows the importance of non-verbal cues in communication. 
• Contradictory evidence for self disclosure?

  • Tamir and Mitchel - suggesting that self-disclosure is high on social media but not low as the theory suggests.
  • They found increased MRI activity in 2 brain regions associated with reward.
  • These areas are strongly activated when people are talking about themselves rather than others.
  • P’s experienced greater pleasure when sharing thoughts than when they were told their thoughts would be kept private.
  • These findings show that self-disclosure is rewarding and there is a human tendency to share our personal experiences with others online. 
• General evaluation for simplifying CMC?

  • A problem is that it addresses CMC as a single construct.
  • Many argue that the effect of self-disclosure will depend on the type of CMC.
  • On Facebook, people have a relationship in the outside world as well and people will disclose more.
  • However, on internet dating sites, disclosure is reduced because both parties anticipate meeting.
  • This expectation does not exist in video games and chat rooms where people are less inhibited.
  • Therefore, any theory that sees CMC cannot be valid as there are different ways of communicating online.
• Negative evaluation regarding gender?

  • It has not considered the difference between males and females.
  • The evolutionary theory states that females would be concerned with making themselves look attractive by looking young but males may want to seem as if they have lots of resources.
  • This suggests a beta gender bias as neither theory suggests that there are gender differences in CMC