I entered an asynchronous online chat with a user, “HarshLick,” on a forum entitled I Hate Music. Though I was previously registered on the site, I had never participated in a discussion on the forum, nor had I frequented the forum more than several times since joining one year ago.
I chose HarshLick as a chat partner because his sexually aggressive (extraverted) yet silly avatar cued an attempt at self-selective presentation. The genderless HarshLick was using the "zero-history" anonymity of the forum to create a mostly brooding, detached persona, as if to mimic the avant-garde music HarshLick was devoted to. The curt, and obviously carefully crafted forum responses indicated neuroticism more than any other traits in the Big 5.
The forum's users do not self-identify with gender, geo-locations or age, though demographic information can be intuited from the topics discussed in the forum, the location of attended concerts, and the age’s mentioned (estimated). The topics—including various aspects of creating, finding, and listening to experimental music—tend to attract a male, above-21 demographic. HarshLick, due to cues written in his messages, e.g. "when I saw them in '89," revealed himself to be male and in his early 40s. Between HarshLick and me, there were no talks of relationship drama, nor exchanges of information regarding emotional or quotidian activity. However, this “task-oriented” exchange did not confirm the "coldness" of our computer mediated interaction, as the Reduced Social Cues Theory might suggest.
From the forum posts, which usually appeared at the rate of 7 per hour, I observed that positive intra-member connections were formed, though through shared or common experiences, through strong agreements on certain subjects, and through a mutual appreciation of pertinent music. Certain linguistic cues—use of hyperbole and other words semantically indicating intensity—helped me ingratiate myself to HarshLick. Walther’s Hyperpersonal Model predicts that feedback tends toward this “Behavioral Confirmation.”
Keeping with the forum’s topic, I noted and praised a recent release by the artist, Aaron Dilloway, and specifically referenced HarshLick’s review of his earlier work; it would not be considered unusual in the forum to single out an individual to engage in a user-to-user chat. Upon taking a liking to my musical taste, Harshlick was willing to personal message (or PM) me with a list of other websites I should check out. HarshLick used a minimum of verbal cues that I imparted to form a more detailed, though group-stereotyped impression of me – in line with the "over-attribution processes" of the Hyperpersonal Theory. In this personal, peer-to-peer space, HarshLick was more warm (agreeableness). In a forum situation, he was more careful to choose what he wrote (lack of openness). Overall, our interaction fell in with tenets of the SIP and Hyperpersonal Theories.
1 comment:
Hi Andrew, I found it interesting that you used two different Internet spaces to evaluate an impression of a stranger. I agree with you that, in general, people online tend to be more formal and selective on what they write in public place such as a forum. In one-to-one environment, people usually have less anxiety to reveal personal information. Privacy seems to be the main factor that causes this contrast. I think the reason why the interaction between you and HarshLick embraced tenets of the SIP and Hyperpersonal Theories is that the interaction took place in two different online spaces. If the interaction only happened in the forum, I think you would have formed a different impression of HarshLick: likely a cold and somewhat negative impression.
Post a Comment