Gating

• Gating can prevent relationships from forming
• Gating is a process that limits how much we self-disclose

  This means we can't develop intimacy to build the relationship
• Factors that can act as gates are:

  Appearance

  Shyness

  Social skills
• Gates occur less on virtual communication

  People communicate through messaging so obstacles such as appearance aren't an issue
• Absence of gating means self-disclosure in virtual relationships is higher
• Absence of gating means virtual relationships are stronger
• Hill et al studied dating couples who had met face to face and found 55% couples were still together after 2 years
• McKenna et al - Relationships - methods

  • Survey sent randomly to member of online special interest in forums
  • Asked how people interacted offline whether they share more information and how close the relationships they formed online were
  • Ps sent follow up survey 2 years later asking similar questions to see how feelings and relationships had changed
• McKenna et al - Relationships - Findings

  • People sharing aspects online which they didn't share offline reported developing internet relationships more quickly than real-life
  • Over half Ps had met internet friend face to face
  • Meeting an average of 8 times
• McKenna et al - Relationships - Conclusion

  • People form close, lasting relationships online
  • These relationships form more quickly and are more stable and long-lasting
  • Online relationships have a stable base due to mutual interests and self-disclosure
• McKenna et al - Relationships - Evaluation

  • Self-report survey - biased sample
  • Social desirability bias
  • High ecological validity
• McKenna lab experiment

  • Pairs of opposite sex met once online or in person
  • Met 2nd time in person
  • After 2 meetings Ps liked each other significantly more if met online first
• McKenna lab experiment

  • For Ps only met face to face quality of conversation and intimacy didn't affect how much they liked each other
  • Liking based off factors like appearance
• Mckenna Lab experiment

  • Liking and conversation quality strongly correlated for participants who had first met online
• McKenna lab experiment

  • Supports conclusion from surveys absence of gating online contributes to the stability of online relationships