Computer-Mediated Communication

Computer-mediated communication is the domain of human communication in which individuals and groups interact, form impressions, establish relationships, and accomplish tasks using networked computers. Although the timing and stylistic features of communication often distinguish online from offline relationship development and [Page 292]management, people can initiate relationships, establish effective groups, and develop personal partnerships using computer systems.

Generally speaking, people interacting on computers have access to fewer nonverbal cues than those who interact in person. Although early research predicted that people would not be able to form meaningful relationships using computer-mediated communication, subsequent studies have demonstrated that relational communication is indeed amenable to online interaction. Because there are fewer nonverbal cues available to people who are interacting on computers, it typically takes longer for people to achieve their interpersonal goals than when they interact on a face-to-face basis. Malcolm Parks provides a useful metaphor for understanding this aspect of computer-mediated communication: Interpersonal interaction via computers is a garden hose. Interpersonal information can flow like water through the hose and fill a container (an interpersonal impression) just as well as can a large fire hose; it just takes longer with the smaller hose. Since the language and timing of written messages exchanged via computer systems convey all the social information, with no additional matter relayed by nonverbal behavior, it takes longer for people interacting on computers to accrue sufficient social information with which to form and transmit impressions and affective influence statements.

In some cases individuals form more positive impressions of others via computer-mediated communication than they would form had they had a face-to-face conversation. This phenomenon is known as hyperpersonal communication. The nature of computer-mediated communication contributes to the phenomenon of hyperpersonal effects. One characteristic is that computermediated communication allows people to carefully select the ways that they present themselves. For example, college students may carefully edit their grammar when they interact with their professors on the computer so that their professors will infer that they are bright and conscientious. Also, because people are not located in the same place during computer-mediated communication and cannot observe their partners' normal appearance and traits, people idealize their partners' charac teristics. For example, a couple who met on an online dating site and had their first interactions online may overattribute the similarity and attractiveness of their partners. Computer-mediated communication also allows users to craft their messages quite deliberately and edit them to fit their desired self- and partner-oriented stereotypes and communication goals. Computer-mediated communication is also hypothesized to foster mutual influence of idealizing responses so that users come to act in ways consistent with the desires their communication partners envision of them. Hyperpersonal communication tends to occur quickly when people plan to have ongoing interaction with others.

One feature that is common in some computermediated communication settings is anonymous communication. Anonymous communication occurs when people communicate with one another without knowing the specific personal identities of those with whom they are interacting. When people are anonymous in computer-mediated groups, they tend to be influenced by group dynamics more strongly than they otherwise would. Researchers believe that this occurs when people are relating to others and thinking of themselves as members of social groups or categories as opposed to operating as if they were unique individuals. This has the effect of causing people in computer-mediated groups to exhibit behavior that is consistent with group norms. This effect is particularly strong when there is another group, an outgroup, which members implicitly reject. The effect of group norms has been used to explain the occasional occurrence of flaming in online groups, that is, the contagious reciprocation of insults and profanities. Early research claimed that this kind of misbehavior was a result of the lack of nonverbal cues in computermediated communication, and individuals' inability to assess situational norms when they were online. Group identification research provides a better account of flaming, however: When it appears in some groups, it is reciprocated and becomes normative for that group. This is why flaming is not endemic to all computer-mediated communication: It is a function of local group norms exacerbated by anonymity, and not a function of online communication per se. Researchers continue to try to uncover what makes people using computer-mediated communication sometimes remain anonymous and rely on group norms to guide their behavior, while other times people seek and reveal unique information about themselves and interact on a personal level.

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