The Highest Form of Like: Snapchat, College Students and Hyperpersonal Communication

The purpose of this study explores how college students engaged with others on Snapchat and how that differed from other Social Networking Sites (SNS). Social Information Process (SIP) Theory was applied as a framework for understanding the effects of time-limited (disappearing) messages and extended conversations that can lead to “hyperpersonal” communication, a form of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) that surpasses the level of affection and emotion of Face to Face (FtF) interaction. In a series of focus groups, college students explained how they used Snapchat and other SNS and the effects it had on interpersonal communication. The participants described emotional interactions with others on Snapchat which they characterized as more authentic and in-the-moment than other SNS and that reflected hyperpersonal communication

Emotional prejudice can lead to infra-humanization

Groups are social constructions with differences. People spontaneously attempt to explain differences between groups. Stereotypes often play this explanatory role. Specifically, group members tend to attribute different essences to social categories. Given widespread ethnocentrism, it is not surprising that individuals reserve “the human essence” for their ingroup, while other groups are attributed a lesser humanity. This phenomenon is called infra‐humanisation and happens outside people's awareness. Secondary emotions (e.g., love, hope, contempt, resentment) are considered uniquely human emotions in contrast to primary emotions (e.g., joy, surprise, fear, anger) that are shared with animals. The research programme summarised in this chapter demonstrates through various paradigms that members of groups not only attribute more secondary emotions to their ingroup than to outgroups, but are also reluctant to associate these emotions with outgroups. Moreover, people behave less cooperatively with an outgroup member who expresses himself with secondary emotions than with an ingroup member who uses the same terms. Interestingly, infra‐humanisation occurs for both high‐ and low‐status groups, even in the absence of conflict between groups

Viestintää teknologian välityksellä asiantuntijaverkostoissa

Työelämän toimintaympäristöjen muutokset haastavat asiantuntijoiden viestintäosaamisen. Verkostomainen kansainvälinen toiminta ja digitaalisuus ovat johtaneet tilanteeseen, jossa on selkeytettävä, miten teknologian välityksellä viestitään ja millaista osaamista teknologiavälitteinen viestintä vaatii. Teknologiavälitteistä viestintäosaamista lähestytään tässä tutkimuksessa digitaalisen osaamisen viitekehyksen avulla huomioiden myös viestintään liittyvät eettiset tekijät (Ferrari 2013). Tutkimus vastaa seuraaviin kysymyksiin: Mitä viestintäkanavia viestintään käytetään? Mitä osaamista näillä viestiminen vaatii? Mitä teknologiavälitteisen viestintäosaamisen alueita työelämässä tulisi kehittää? Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty kyselylomakkeella (N=98). Tutkimuksen mukaan asiantuntijatyössä yksikään teknologivälitteisen viestinnän osa-alueista ei yllä edellytetylle osaamistasolle. Osaamiskuilu ei ole kuitenkaan suuri, mutta tulosten mukaan uhkakuvana on sen suureneminen etenkin asiantuntijatehtävissä, joissa vuorovaikutus eri kulttuurien välillä ja verkostomaisuus lisääntyvät. Asiantuntijoilta edellytetään entistä enemmän viestintäosaamista ja ennen kaikkea eettisen toiminnan ymmärtämistä teknologian välityksellä viestittäessä.Työelämän toimintaympäristöjen muutokset haastavat asiantuntijoiden viestintäosaamisen. Verkostomainen kansainvälinen toiminta ja digitaalisuus ovat johtaneet tilanteeseen, jossa on selkeytettävä, miten teknologian välityksellä viestitään ja millaista osaamista teknologiavälitteinen viestintä vaatii. Teknologiavälitteistä viestintäosaamista lähestytään tässä tutkimuksessa digitaalisen osaamisen viitekehyksen avulla huomioiden myös viestintään liittyvät eettiset tekijät (Ferrari 2013). Tutkimus vastaa seuraaviin kysymyksiin: Mitä viestintäkanavia viestintään käytetään? Mitä osaamista näillä viestiminen vaatii? Mitä teknologiavälitteisen viestintäosaamisen alueita työelämässä tulisi kehittää? Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty kyselylomakkeella (N=98). Tutkimuksen mukaan asiantuntijatyössä yksikään teknologivälitteisen viestinnän osa-alueista ei yllä edellytetylle osaamistasolle. Osaamiskuilu ei ole kuitenkaan suuri, mutta tulosten mukaan uhkakuvana on sen suureneminen etenkin asiantuntijatehtävissä, joissa vuorovaikutus eri kulttuurien välillä ja verkostomaisuus lisääntyvät. Asiantuntijoilta edellytetään entistä enemmän viestintäosaamista ja ennen kaikkea eettisen toiminnan ymmärtämistä teknologian välityksellä viestittäessä

Self-presentation in the online dating environment.

This study explored the world of Internet dating. It examined how daters presented themselves and formed impressions of others online with a particular focus on the accuracy of the online presentations. Five men and women who were currently dating online were interviewed and observed. In addition, one participant's observations prior to and after meeting another participant online were obtained. Participants reported that Internet dating was a great way to meet people but a difficult method of determining compatibility without meeting in person. Relationships that began on the Internet were continued offline only if the daters experienced chemistry in person. Deception was expected due to the nature of the medium (e.g., the lack of non-verbal cues), but the deception that was encountered was small in scale. All the participants claimed honesty in their presentations, but they misrepresented themselves in small, unintentional ways. Overall, the online impressions differed from the reality but not significantly enough to be a concern. Deception appeared to be no more rampant on the Internet than it is in everyday life.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b163702

Consumers\u27 Correspondence Inference on Celebrity Endorsers: The Role of Correspondence Bias and Suspicion

The main purpose of this study is to find out whether celebrity endorsers’ behaviors, such as large endorsement contract and multiple product endorsement, will influence consumers’ correspondence inferences on those celebrities’ genuine attitudes towards the endorsed products in print advertisements and how such attributional inferences will differ according to the perceived level of product congruence with the endorser. For meaningful analysis and interpretation, the differential effects were examined in terms of correspondence bias and suspicion of ulterior motives. The bias refers to people’ attributional inference tendency to relying on other persons’ dispositions; whereas, the suspicion of ulterior motives accounts for people’s suspending such inferential tendency to the bias. The moderating roles of individual need for cognition and implicit theory of personality were also scrutinized along with the inferential process. Lastly, the mediating role of correspondence inference to attitudinal and behavioral measures of advertising effectiveness was tested. Results support the differential effects of suspicion by perceived product congruence on persuasiveness of celebrity endorsement advertising. Consumers did bias their correspondence inferences when the product was not perceived to be highly congruent with the image of the celebrity endorser; however, consumers did not bias their correspondence inferences when they were highly suspicious of the endorser’s ulterior motives whether the product is perceived to be highly matched with the image of the endorser or not. Those effects were also found to be moderated by consumers’ level of need for cognition, but not the implicit theory of personality. Irrespective of their suspicion levels, low need for cognition consumers did bias their correspondence inferences whether the product was perceived to be highly matched with the image of the endorser or not. An additional investigation on the mediating role of correspondence inference confirmed its positive effects on consumers’ attitudes toward the ad and the brand, and behavioral intentions. Based upon the empirical findings from the experiment, theoretical and managerial implications as well as limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed

Zerging newbs: conflict tactics for MMORGP forums

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010"Just like with face-to-face conversations, the discussions that occur online can take a wrong turn and spiral into a conflict. The study utilized content analysis methods on computer-mediated talk via World of Warcraft forums. The research focuses on the verbal tactics used by players for avoidance, cooperation and competition conflict management styles. The results of the study showed that in the observed forum the outcome of the conversations that contain elements of conflict could not be foreseen through the use of verbal tactics that represent certain conflict management behavior. The duality of the forum was examined with the use of structuration theory. Some of the rules and resources that contributed to the understanding of the observed community were need for identification, use of proper grammar and spelling, and experience level. While replying to the posts, forum members focused on responding to the user, not just the question posted. Thus, the identifiable features (e.g., avatar's level) were referenced. The appropriation of players' experience as a credibility resource was apparent in the comments when one's game skills and knowledge were challenged"--Leaf iii1. Review of related literature -- 1.1. Introduction -- 1.2. Computer-mediated communication -- 1.2.1. Computer-mediated communication vs. face-to-face communication -- 1.2.2. Social information processing theory (SIP) -- 1.3. Anonymity -- 1.4. Flaming and uninhibited behavior -- 1.5. Arguing and conflict online -- 1.6. Massively-multiplayer online game of World of Warcraft -- 1.7. Community engagement and forums -- 2. Research methodologies -- 2.1. Theoretical perspective -- 2.2. Research design -- 2.2.1. Conflict management styles -- 2.2.2. Content analysis -- 2.2.3. Grounded theory -- 2.2.4. Data collection -- 3. Results -- 3.1. Conversation outcomes -- 3.2. Conflict management verbal tactics -- 3.2.1. Avoidance category -- 3.2.2. Cooperation category -- 3.2.3. Competition -- 3.3. Rules and resources of community -- 3.3.1. Contradicting structures -- 3.3.2. Anonymity -- 3.3.3. Credibility -- 3.3.4. Adapting to the rules -- 3.3.5. Group norms through interaction -- 4. Discussion -- 4.1. Conclusions -- Conclusion one -- 4.1.2. Conclusion two -- 4.1.3. Conclusion three -- 4.2. Limitations and future research -- References -- Appendices

Paranoia and the Role of Contingency in the Experience of Trust and Perceived Empathy in Interpersonal Encounters

This thesis addresses the interpersonal determinants of paranoid ideation. Part one presents a systematic review of the empirical literature on the relationship between childhood adversity and paranoia. It considers whether there is an association between direct experience of interpersonal adversity and paranoia, and whether paranoia is specifically associated with a type of early interpersonal adversity. The data suggest that there is inconclusive evidence of a relationship, but support was found for a more consistent association between paranoia and emotional abuse. Possible mechanisms are considered, and results are discussed in the context of methodological limitations and the need for further investigations in this area. Part two reports on an empirical virtual reality study investigating the role of paranoia and interpersonal contingency in the experience of trust and perceived empathy in encounters with unfamiliar others, and exploring associations with other factors, including attachment history and anxiety. Sixty-one healthy male participants with varying levels of trait paranoia interviewed a virtual flatmate whose non-verbal responses were either contingent, or non-contingent in relation to them. Evidence was found for an interaction between interpersonal contingency and trait paranoia in influencing explicit trust of the avatar, but not implicit trust (as assessed by distance kept from the avatar) or perceived avatar empathy. Those high in paranoia perceived the contingent avatar as more trustworthy, whereas there was evidence of greater trust towards the non-contingent avatar in those low in paranoia. Dismissive attachment predicted greater explicit trust and perceived empathy, but reduced implicit trust. Part three is a critical appraisal of the empirical research, including personal reflections on the research process. It considers the challenges of recruitment across the paranoia continuum and the use of virtual reality technology in research investigating interpersonal encounters

Connecting people through physiosocial technology

Social connectedness is one of the most important predictors of health and well-being. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate technologies that can support social connectedness. Such technologies can build upon the notion that disclosing emotional information has a strong positive influence on social connectedness. As physiological signals are strongly related to emotions, they might provide a solid base for emotion communication technologies. Moreover, physiological signals are largely lacking in unmediated communication, have been used successfully by machines to recognize emotions, and can be measured relatively unobtrusively with wearable sensors. Therefore, this doctoral dissertation examines the following research question: How can we use physiological signals in affective technology to improve social connectedness? First, a series of experiments was conducted to investigate if computer interpretations of physiological signals can be used to automatically communicate emotions and improve social connectedness (Chapters 2 and 3). The results of these experiments showed that computers can be more accurate at recognizing emotions than humans are. Physiological signals turned out to be the most effective information source for machine emotion recognition. One advantage of machine based emotion recognition for communication technology may be the increase in the rate at which emotions can be communicated. As expected, experiments showed that increases in the number of communicated emotions increased feelings of closeness between interacting people. Nonetheless, these effects on feelings of closeness are limited if users attribute the cause of the increases in communicated emotions to the technology and not to their interaction partner. Therefore, I discuss several possibilities to incorporate emotion recognition technologies in applications in such a way that users attribute the communication to their interaction partner. Instead of using machines to interpret physiological signals, the signals can also be represented to a user directly. This way, the interpretation of the signal is left to be done by the user. To explore this, I conducted several studies that employed heartbeat representations as a direct physiological communication signal. These studies showed that people can interpret such signals in terms of emotions (Chapter 4) and that perceiving someone's heartbeat increases feelings of closeness between the perceiver and sender of the signal (Chapter 5). Finally, we used a field study (Chapter 6) to investigate the potential of heartbeat communication mechanisms in practice. This again confirmed that heartbeat can provide an intimate connection to another person, showing the potential for communicating physiological signals directly to improve connectedness. The last part of the dissertation builds upon the notion that empathy has positive influences on social connectedness. Therefore, I developed a framework for empathic computing that employed automated empathy measurement based on physiological signals (Chapter 7). This framework was applied in a system that can train empathy (Chapter 8). The results showed that providing users frequent feedback about their physiological synchronization with others can help them to improve empathy as measured through self-report and physiological synchronization. In turn, this improves understanding of the other and helps people to signal validation and caring, which are types of communication that improve social connectedness. Taking the results presented in this dissertation together, I argue that physiological signals form a promising modality to apply in communication technology (Chapter 9). This dissertation provides a basis for future communication applications that aim to improve social connectedness

Revealing individual and collective pasts : visualizations of online social archives

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-125).As mediated communication becomes an increasingly central part of everyday life, people have started going online to conduct business, to get emotional support, to find communities of interest, and to look for potential romantic partners. Most of these social activities take place primarily through the exchange of conversational texts that, over time, accrue into vast archives. As valuable as these collections of documents may be for our comprehension of the online social world, they are usually cumbersome, impenetrable records of the past. This thesis posits that history visualization- the visualization of people's past presence and activities in mediated environments- helps users make better sense of the online social spaces they inhabit and the relationships they maintain. Here, a progressive series of experimental visualizations explores different ways in which history may enhance social legibility. The projects visualize the history of people's activities in four different environments: a graphical chat room, a wiki site, Usenet newsgroups, and email. History and the persistent nature of online communication are the common threads connecting these projects. Evaluation of these tools shows that history visualizations can be utilized in a variety of ways, ranging from aids for quicker impression formation and mirrors for self-reflection, to catalysts for storytelling and artifacts for posterity.by Fernanda Bertini Viégas.Ph.D