virtual relationships

• a gate is any obstacle to the formation of a relationship

  eg. physical unatractivenes, social anxiety,stammer
• absence of gating is a huge advantage of virtual relationships

  • in face to face relationships we use available features eg.attarctiveness, age ethnicity to categorise potential partners before entering into a relationship with then,
  • these gating obstacles limit opportunities for less attractive or shy peopel
  • (zhao found onlien social netweorks can empower gated individuals to present teh identiites they want to establish but cant in face t face )
• self-disclosure tends to occur much faster. One reason for this is the anonymity associated with online relationships means people can disclose more with less fear of disapproval or rejection

  • similar to the strangers on the train phenomenon where rubin found individuals are most liekly to disclose info to people tehy will probs never see again
  • this means relationships can become quite intense quite quickly but are difficult to sustain because they are lacking the underlying trust and knowledge of each other
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  there are also concerns of absence of gating because people can create false idetities that they would be able to face to face and are able to stretch the truth
• another viewpoint Sproull and Kiesler (1986) suggested that online relationships might be less open and honest than face-to-face ones, due to an absence of non verbal cues According to this theory, reduction in communication cues leads to de-individuation and brings on behaviours that people usually restrain themselves from displaying, such as aggression.