Virtual Relationships

• Reduced Cues Theory

  According to Sproull and Kiesler, CMC relationships are less effective than FtF ones because they lack many of the cues we normally depend on in FtF interactions
• Cues lacking in CMC

  • Nonverbal cues such as physical appearance
  • Cues to emotional state, such as facial expressions and tone of voice
• De-individuation


  Reduced people's sense of individual identity, which in turn encourages disinhibition in relating to others
• Lack of cues in CMC

  Leads to virtual relationships being more likely to involve blunt and even aggressive communication
• Blunt and aggressive communication in virtual relationships


  Leads to a reluctance to self-disclose
• The Hyperpersonal Model

  Walther argues that online relationships can be more personal and involve greater self-disclosure than FtF ones
• Online relationships


  • They can develop very quickly as self-disclosure happens earlier
  • Once established they are more intense and intimate
  • They can also end more quickly, because the high excitement level of the interaction isn't matched by the level of trust between the relationship partners
• Cooper and Sportolari called this the boom and bust phenomenon of online relationships
• Self-disclosure in virtual relationships

  • The sender of a message has more time to manipulate their online image than they would in an FtF situation
  • People online have more control over what to disclose and the cues they send
  • It is much easier to manipulate self-disclosure to promote intimacy in CMC relationships, by self-presenting in a positive and idealised way
• Selective self-presentation


  The ability to manipulate one's online image
• Anonymity in CMC

  • When you're aware that other people do not know your identity, you feel less accountable for your behaviour
  • You may well disclose more about yourself to a stranger than to even your most intimate partner
• Gating


  Barriers that limit the development of a relationship
• Advantages of removing the gate in CMC relationships

  • Relationship can develop to the point where self-disclosure becomes more frequent and deeper
  • Allows an online relationship to 'get off the ground' in a way that is less likely to happen in an FtF situation
  • Refocuses attention on self-disclosure and away from superficial and distracting features (physical attraction)
  • Allows people to create online identities that they could never manage FtF
• Online, people are more interested in what you tell them than what you look and sound like
• •ABSENCE OF GATING IN VIRTUAL RELATIONSHIPS

  •A gate, is any obstacle to the formation of a relationship. FtF interaction is said to be gated, in that it involves many features that can interfere with the early development of a relationship.
• Virtual relationships

  Relationships formed online
• Virtual relationships

  Have consequences for offline relationships
• Zhao et al. (2008): 'We should not think of the online world and the offline world as being completely separate, as relationships formed online do have consequences for people's offline lives'
• Development of virtual relationships online

  • Allows some individuals to bypass gating obstacles
  • Create the sort of identity that they are unable to establish in the offline world
• Digital selves


  The identities created online
• Digital selves

  • Can enhance the individual's overall self-image
  • Increase their chances to connect to others in their offline world