Virtual Relationships in Social Media

• CMC Encompassed


  - computer mediated communication (CMC) encompasses a wide variety of electronic communication methods through which relationships are formed

  - 25% of relationships are now formed online so psychologists now research these relationship types also7
• The Influence of CMC on Self-Disclosure


  - revealing personal information about yourself

  - there are two theories that contrast each other which each discuss how self-disclosure influences the virtual world

  > reduced cues theory

  > absence of gating
• Reduced Cues Theory


  - reduced amount of non-verbal cues (facial expressions, tone of voice, body language) online

  - this leads to less self-disclosure

  - Reduced Cues theory argued CMC relationships will be less successful than IRL relationships

  - because there is a lack in emotional cues we depend on

  - therefore, less aware of people's emotional states

  - CMC can also lead to deindividuation

  - this is where we don't see the other as an individual

  - therefore our behaviour is less inhibited meaning we are more likely to be blunt or aggressive in our communication

  - therefore, researchers believe we are less likely to form intimate relationships

  - as we don't want to self-disclose to someone who comes across so impersonal
• Dangers of Online Dating Statistics and Information

  - forced isolation (covid) made dating apps boom

  - some daters have raised alarm bells about the environment they breed, especially for women

  - 'treated like i was being used for sex work'

  - 'often asked for a sexual favour before someone said hello or their name'

  - of female online daters 18-34, 57% said they'd received sexually explicit images they hadn't asked for

  - same for girls aged 15-17 (2020 Pew Research Center study)

  - sexist abuse and harassment does disproportionately affect women targeted by straight men (2020 Australian study)

  - 36% of online daters found their interactions 'either extremely or very upsetting' (2017 Pew Research Center study)

  - female daters 18-35 19% reported high occurrences of threats of physical harm, compared to 9% for men (2020 PRC study)
• AO3 Criticism - Contradictory Evidence for Reduced Cues

  - a criticism of reduced cues theory is that Tamir & Mitchell (2012) have found contradictory evidence which suggests that self-disclosure may be high on social media (not low as the theory suggests)​

  - they found increased MRI activity in 2 brain regions that are associated with reward ​

  - these areas were strongly activated when people were talking about themselves ​

  and less so when they were talking about someone else

  - participants experienced a greater sensation of pleasure when sharing their thoughts ​

  then when they were told their thoughts would be kept private

  - these findings suggest that self-disclosure is rewarding ​

  and therefore there is human tendency to share our ​

  personal experiences with others online
• AO3 Criticism - Ignores that Non-Verbal Cues are not Absent they are just Different


  - a criticism of the reduced cues theory is that some researcher's argue that the theory is wrong to argue that nonverbal cues are entirely missing from CMC

  - non-verbal cues are not missing; they are just different

  - researchers argue that people use other cues such as timing and style of their message

  - for example, too much time before replying may be a snub, and not enough time indicates they have not given enough thought to their response

  - in addition, the use of acrostics such as LOL and emojis also help to convey the tone of the message

  - thus showing that the theory ignores the importance of such non-verbal cues in communication
• Absence of Gating


  - we reveal more online due to the absence of barriers, so this aids relationship formation

  - FtF relationships have many potential 'gates' like physical unattractiveness, a stammer, shyness etc.​

  - it is argued that the absence of gating is a huge advantage to CMC relationships ​

  - absence of gating works by refocusing attention on self-disclosure and away from superficial and distracting features ​

  - online, people are more interested in what someone is telling them than what they look/sound like

  - this means in CMC relationships self-disclosure is deeper and more frequent ​

  - so relationships can form quickly

  - in addition people can use CMC to present images of themselves they could never do FtF ​

  - e.g. an introvert appearing extrovert
• AO3 Strength - Support for the Absence of Gating


  - Baker and Oswald (2010) argue virtual relationships are particularly helpful for shy people ​

  - to support this they surveyed 207 male and female students ​about their shyness, Facebook usage and quality of friendships​

  - for students who score high in shyness, greater use of Facebook was associated with higher perceptions of friendship quality ​

  - thus, Facebook and other social media sites help people to form relationships without the barriers they face in real life ​

  ​

  - McKenna and Bargh (2000) looked at CMC use by lonely and socially anxious people ​

  - found shy people were able to express their 'true selves' more than in FtF situations ​

  - (so they used more self-disclosure online)​

  - of the romantic relationships that formed online 70% survived more than two years ​

  - which is a higher proportion than relationships in the real world ​

  - supporting that the absence of gating is useful in relationship formation
• AO3 Strength - Positive Implications

  - if absence of gating does help individuals to form online relationships this can also have positive consequences for offline relationships ​- it has been claimed that the absence of gating, and the resulting more meaningful self-disclosure online​

  - has positive effects on offline relationships as individual's can create an online identity that is appreciated by others

  - this then enhances their overall self-image and increases the quality of their face-to-face relationships as well ​- therefore, relationships formed online have positive consequences for people's offline lives
• General AO3 Criticism - Address CMC as a Single Construct


  - a problem with both theories is that they address CMC as a single construct

  - many argue that the effect of self-disclosure will depend on the type of CMC; on social network sites like Facebook people tend to also have a relationship in the outside world and therefore people will disclose more ​

  - however, on internet dating sites self-disclosure is reduced because both parties anticipate meeting in the future

  - this expectation doesn't exist on online gaming sites and chatrooms where people are less inhibited

  - researchers argue that any theory that sees CMC as a single construct cannot be a completely valid explanation as there is such a variety of ways to communicate online
• General AO3 Criticism - Hasn't Considered Difference between Males and Females


  - one of the main issues surrounding research into virtual relationships is that it hasn't considered the difference between males and females

  - for example, evolutionary theory would state that females would be concerned with making themselves seem more attractive and youthful to attract a mate whereas males might want to appear like they have more resources ​

  - this would seem to suggest that there may be a beta gender bias in this area of research as neither theory suggests that there are gender differences in how CMC is used

  - therefore theories into virtual relationships may not be applicable to everyone ​