Absence in gating

• A01 content? (part 1)

  • Face to face relationships have “gates” to relationship formation due to things that people find off-putting These gates don’t exist online, leading to more self-disclosure. 
  • Face to face relationships have many gates like physical attractiveness, stammering or shyness. The absence of gating in CMC relationship is an advantage 
• A01 content (part 2)

  • This works by refocusing attention on self-disclosure and stuff away from superficial +distracting features.
  • Self-disclosure is deeper and frequent, a relationship can form quicker Online, people are more interested in telling than what they sound or look like
  • People use CMC to present images of themselves they never do face to face. 
• Supporting study?

  • Supporting evidence for helping socially awkward and shy people. McKenna and Bargh (2000) looked at CMC use by lonely and socially anxious people.
  • Shy people revealed their true selves more online than in face to face.
  • 70% of these relationships formed, survived over 2 years, which is a higher proportion than in the real world.
  • This supports the idea that absence of gating increases self-disclosure. 
• Positive implications of absence of gating?

  • If absence of gating helps individuals form online relationships then this can help offline relationships as well.
  • It has positive consequences for offline relationships.
  • This is because individuals can create an online identity that is appreciated by others.
  • This then enhances their overall self-image and gives them the confidence to self-disclose in person too.
  • Self-disclosure in online relationships increases the quality of face to face relationships.
• Negative evaluation of CMC as a single construct?

  • 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.