The Effect of Feedback on Identity Shift in Computer-Mediated Communication

The hyperpersonal model of computer-mediated communication (CMC) suggests manners by which online communication transforms relational communication and self-perception. Criticism of the model includes concerns over the linkage among its four theoretical components. Recent research on identity shift in CMC suggests that senders' online selective self-presentation provides sufficient dynamics to modify individuals' personality following an online identity performance. The present research extends these findings by examining effects on identity shift due to the influence of feedback to an individual following a self-presentation that deliberately emphasizes a specific personality characteristic. Results support hypothesized interaction effects and illuminate the personality-modification effects of feedback on someone in a public blog setting, as well as feedback in a private expressive condition. Major implications for the status of the hyperpersonal model are presented, with additional questions regarding the computers-as-social-actors effect.

[1]  Malcolm R. Parks,et al.  Cues Filtered Out, Cues Filtered In: Computer-Mediated Communication and Relationships , 2002 .

[2]  K. Doherty,et al.  The Impact of Self-Presentations on Self-Appraisals and Behavior: The Power of Public Commitment , 1994 .

[3]  Y. Hamburger,et al.  The relationship between extraversion and neuroticism and the different uses of the Internet. , 2000 .

[4]  Joseph B. Walther,et al.  Attributions for Inconsistencies Between Online and Offline Self-Presentations , 2011, Commun. Res..

[5]  D. Zimmerman,et al.  Effects of computer conferencing on the language use of emotionally disturbed adolescents , 1987 .

[6]  Brandon Van Der Heide,et al.  Effects of Interpersonal Goals on Inadvertent Intrapersonal Influence in Computer-Mediated Communication. , 2010 .

[7]  Mark Snyder,et al.  Why Does Behavioral Confirmation Occur? A Functional Perspective on the Role of the Perceiver , 1994 .

[8]  M. Snyder On the Self-Fulfilling Nature of Social Stereotypes. , 1977 .

[9]  Mark Snyder,et al.  Why Does Behavioral Confirmation Occur? A Functional Perspective on the Role of the Target , 1995 .

[10]  S. Turkle Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet , 1997 .

[11]  Artemio Ramirez, Jr,et al.  When Online Meets Offline: The Effect of Modality Switching on Relational Communication , 2007 .

[12]  Jeffrey T. Hancock,et al.  Identity Shift in Computer-Mediated Environments , 2008 .

[13]  R. Michael Furr,et al.  Interpreting Effect Sizes in Contrast Analysis , 2004 .

[14]  D. C. Howell Statistical methods for psychology, 3rd ed. , 1992 .

[15]  Artemio Ramirez,et al.  When Online Meets Offline: An Expectancy Violations Theory Perspective on Modality Switching , 2008 .

[16]  Coye Cheshire,et al.  The Social Psychological Effects of Feedback on the Production of Internet Information Pools , 2008, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[17]  R. Thomson,et al.  Where Is the Gender in Gendered Language? , 2001, Psychological science.

[18]  James W. Pennebaker,et al.  Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2007) , 2007 .

[19]  Amy Bruckman,et al.  Gender Swapping on the Internet , 1993 .

[20]  J. Walther Anticipated Ongoing Interaction Versus Channel Effects on Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction , 1994 .

[21]  B. J. Fogg,et al.  Silicon sycophants: the effects of computers that flatter , 1997, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[22]  Cindy K. Chung,et al.  The development and psychometric properties of LIWC2007 , 2007 .

[23]  Andrew J. Flanagin,et al.  A self-awareness approach to computer-mediated communication , 2006, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[24]  C. Cooley Human nature and the social order , 1902 .

[25]  Katelyn Y. A. McKenna,et al.  Can you see the real me? Activation and expression of the "true self" on the Internet. , 2002 .

[26]  B. J. Fogg,et al.  Computers are social actors: a review of current research , 1997 .

[27]  Joseph B. Walther,et al.  Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? , 2001, Commun. Res..

[28]  Eun-Ju Lee,et al.  I like you, but I won't listen to you: Effects of rationality on affective and behavioral responses to computers that flatter , 2009, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[29]  Scott E. Caplan,et al.  Social anxiety and computer-mediated communication during initial interactions: Implications for the hyperpersonal perspective , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[30]  Katelyn Y. A. McKenna,et al.  Plan 9 From Cyberspace: The Implications of the Internet for Personality and Social Psychology , 2000 .

[31]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Friend Networking Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents' Well-Being and Social Self-Esteem , 2006, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[32]  Carolyn Birnie,et al.  But what will they say?: The impact of receiving feedback on women’s relationship narratives , 2007 .

[33]  Brandon Van Der Heide,et al.  Self-Generated Versus Other-Generated Statements and Impressions in Computer-Mediated Communication , 2009, Commun. Res..

[34]  J. Pennebaker,et al.  Linguistic styles: language use as an individual difference. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[35]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Social Consequences of the Internet for Adolescents , 2009 .

[36]  Stephanie Tom Tong,et al.  The Role of Friends’ Appearance and Behavior on Evaluations of Individuals on Facebook: Are We Known by the Company We Keep? , 2008 .

[37]  Joseph B. Walther,et al.  Selective self-presentation in computer-mediated communication: Hyperpersonal dimensions of technology, language, and cognition , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[38]  D. C. Howell Statistical Methods for Psychology , 1987 .

[39]  D. Tice,et al.  Self-concept change and self-presentation: the looking glass self is also a magnifying glass. , 1992, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[40]  Tara M. Emmers-Sommer,et al.  Predictors of Relationship Satisfaction in Online Romantic Relationships , 2006 .

[41]  Mark Snyder,et al.  Behavioral confirmation in social interaction: From social perception to social reality. , 1978 .

[42]  J. Walther Group and Interpersonal Effects in International Computer-Mediated Collaboration , 1997 .

[43]  Clifford Nass,et al.  The media equation - how people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places , 1996 .

[44]  Brandon Van Der Heide,et al.  Too Much of a Good Thing? The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook , 2008, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[45]  Asako Miura,et al.  Psychological and Social Influences on Blog Writing: An Online Survey of Blog Authors in Japan , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[46]  Robert Hanna What is the self? , 2011, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[47]  C. Nass,et al.  Machines and Mindlessness , 2000 .

[48]  Joseph B. Walther,et al.  Nonverbal Dynamics in Computer-Mediated Communication or: (And the Net: ('S with You, :) and You :) Alone , 2006 .

[49]  J. Walther Computer-Mediated Communication , 1996 .

[50]  Nicole B. Ellison,et al.  Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[51]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Adolescents' Identity Experiments on the Internet , 2008, Commun. Res..

[52]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  Follow the (slash) dot: effects of feedback on new members in an online community , 2005, GROUP.

[53]  A. E. Kelly,et al.  Publicly Committing Oneself to an Identity , 2006 .

[54]  Robert Liebendorfer Mind, self and society , 1960 .