Archaeology Frontier

Archaeology Frontier Site Map

Online Archaeology Magazines

Online Archaeology News

Archaeology Travel

Archaeology Study Programs

Papers in Archaeology

Discuss history and archaeology in the History Forums at Xenite.Org. Forums include the American Studies Forum, the Ancient History Forum, the Archaeology Forum, the Medieval Europe Forum, the Mythology Forum, and the Oriental Studies Forum.

Abstract

How do people in cyberspace picture one another? More specifically, how do individuals engaged in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC), with its paucity of visual and auditory cues, form impressions of those with whom they interact? And how do expectations formed online compare with offline experiences? Researchers have begun to answer these questions, drawing primarily on theories of stereotyping. This paper uses prototype theory and related models to extend previous research and to account for discrepancies between online image and offline reality. It draws on interviews with individuals who first met others online and subsequently moved to face-to-face interaction; it also utilizes comparisons between text-based impressions formed online and photographs displayed on web pages.

Introduction

It is not uncommon for people who meet in the text-based environments of cyberspace--asynchronous news groups and bulletin boards and synchronous chat rooms and virtual communities--to be mistaken, and sometimes wildly so, when they imagine one another's offline appearances. For example, in an article about online dating (A. Hamilton 1999), one man complains "It's draining when you realize how different people are from what they project online," and another story (J. Hamilton 1999) about the mainstreaming of online romances describes a pathway to disappointment: "The correspondents finally meet, but the chemistry crashes like a warped hard drive. Her extra five pounds is actually 50. His definition of a full head of hair proves to be a bit thin." The discrepancy between image and reality is also captured in cartoons. One depicts a sophisticated, thirty-something woman, sitting at a table for two in an upscale restaurant, saying "I loved your E-mail, but I thought you'd be older." Her dinner companion is a little boy (Weber 1998).

In face-to-face interaction, physical appearance, vocabulary, grammar, other linguistic markers (including tone and accent), and nonverbal cues ordinarily influence the ways in which people initially form impressions of one another (Ekman & Keltner, 1997; Goffman, 1959; Lea & Spears, 1995; Zebrowitz, 1996). In cyberspace, many of these indicators are absent or strongly attenuated. The paucity of these features raises two questions: in the absence of visual and auditory cues, how do individuals engaged in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) form impressions of those with whom they interact, and how do expectations formed online compare with offline experiences? Researchers have begun to address these questions (Lea & Spears, 1992, 1995; Walther, 1993, 1996, 1997). Yet studies of computer-mediated communication have paid scant attention to the specific assumptions, categories, and norms that constitute the cognitive models within which impressions are formed or to the fit between imagination and reality.

This paper applies prototype theory to identify types of cognitive models people use in forming impressions in cyberspace and to examine how different types of cognitive models are related to the fit between online image and offline reality. It focuses on the ways in which different models generate different interpretations of the same message. Although this point is implicit in theories of the dynamics of computer-mediated communication, it has not been developed in them. Walther (1996), for example, notes the ways in which senders of messages optimize self-presentation and the ways in which receivers idealize senders. From the sender's perspective, a significant feature of CMC is the opportunity to construct messages carefully, thereby enhancing the representation of self. From this viewpoint, the emphasis is on the meaning of the message to the sender. From the receiver's perspective, the circumstances of text-based CMC are conducive to an idealization of the sender. From this point of view, the emphasis is on the meaning of the message to its recipient. Most research on computer-mediated communication has focused on senders' messages; much less attention has been given to assessing the ways in which receivers interpret messages and especially to the differences in the ways in which messages are interpreted. Whereas social identity theory (Walther, 1996, 1997) illuminates the process of relationship development in CMC, including the formation of positive and negative impressions, prototype theory explains why these impressions are often at odds with offline experiences.

Copyright © 2007 Archaeology Frontier. All Rights Reserved. References to other Web sites are offered "as is" without guarantees or warranties, implied or explicit, regarding the availability, applicability, and/or suitability of their content to the topic of archaeology.

SEO Services: Search engine optimization services provided by SE cOnsulting