interpersonal communication v2
DESCRIPTION
The is the Week 5 Lecture for BHS3000 Digital Selves at Monash University Australia. Narrator is Debbie McCormickTRANSCRIPT
DIGITAL SELF AND DIGITAL OTHERS
What we’ll be looking at over the next three sessions Interpersonal communication
Team collaboration The online expression and
exploration of sexuality and alternative cultures
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
Seminar 1
What we’ll be looking at this week What is Communication What is Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC) Why research CMC in a virtual world Affordances Gender and communication Cultural variances On- and off-line effects of avatar
appearance
What is Communication
1. When you meet someone, you develop a set of expectancies about the other person.
2. You then act toward the person in a way that is consistent with your expectancies.
3. The other person interprets the meaning of your actions.
4. Based on this interpretation, the other person responds.
5. You then interpret the meaning of the other person’s response.
DARLEY, J. M. & FAZIO, R. H. (1980) Expectancy confirmation processes arising in the social interaction sequence. American
Psychologist, 35 (pp. 867-881
http://unix.temple.edu/~susanj/jou55/model.jpg
What is Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC) and why
research it? Main areas of research in relation
to communication include the effects of: The absence of social context cues
(i.e. Body language, facial expressions)
Anonymity Gender and culture
Next is an excellent video that explains the changes to written communication that have been brought about by the advent of hypertext
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How does computer mediation affect communication?The ‘real-world’ communication tools most often affected by computer mediation and environmental affordances include: voice gestures facial expression body
Grounding changes with the medium1. Co-presence2. Visibility3. Audibility4. Contemporality5. Simultaneity6. Sequentiality7. Reviewability8. Revisability
AffordancesAffordance Theory – J.J Gibson
Perception of the environment leads to some course of action
Affordances of VWs which affect communication include:
the ability to use and/or make Gestures the ability and extent to which an avatars
appearance can be customised the extent to which an avatar can be
animated and whether the environment uses text,
speech or a mixture of the two
http://www.learning-theories.com/affordance-theory-gibson.html
Disinhibition
The freedom afforded by virtual environments along with diminished visual and auditory clues and the narrow bandwidth of communication can result in a state of, what has been described as disinhibition (Joinson, 2003)
Culture and CMC
Cultures may draw on different channels of communication for conversational grounding
Cultures may differ in interactional goals, making different media more or less appropriate
Understanding interactions between culture and CMC is important for: • Building theories of collaborative technologies • Designing tools for global distribution and/or
cross-cultural communication
http://www.engr.udayton.edu/faculty/wsmari/cts06/CTS2006%20Lucheon%20-%20Notes.pdf
Cultural Variances and Variables
PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO0
102030405060708090
Hofstede DimensionsComparison Australia/World Average
Australia World Average
http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_australia.shtml
Other Cultural Variances
Context The extent to which information is made explicit or is
assumed High-context culture
Proxemics Clothing Emotes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8199951.stm
JACK, R. E., BLAIS, C., SCHEEPERS, C., SCHYNS, P. G., & CALDARA, R. (2008) Cultural Confusions Show Facial Expressions are Not Universal Current Biology,
(in press)
Gender and Communication
The following video, while not strictly about communication is an interesting piece of gender
research conducted in Second Life.
• The major reason women present as men in online environments is so they won’t get hassled
• The main reason men present as women is because they feel people are nicer to them and more likely to give them things (particularly relevant in a gaming environment) (Bruckman, 1993).
• Gendered communication styles carry over into virtual environments
• The anonymity or pseudo anonymity of virtual environments results in increased assertiveness for many women (Rodino, 1997).
• When voice is available it presents a challenge for those who are presenting in the environment as a different gender or who prefer to present as gender neutral.
On- and Offline Effects of Avatar Appearance
Creating an avatar is an act of visual communication
What does YOUR avatar say about you? Inworld appearance can impact real life
behaviour
Key Points Computer mediated communication is pervasive in
Western society The use of virtual worlds for socialising, work and
education is increasing Affordances will differ according to the environment Verbal and non-verbal cues may be altered or missing in
CMC which may result in disinhibition Overall, gendered communication styles carry over in
virtual environments ‘Inhabiting’ an avatar of a different race or culture will
not necessarily provide you with an accurate experience of what it is like to come from a different race or culture and may, in fact, reinforce cultural stereotypes
Avatars appearance can act back on the real-life behaviour
Further Reading BECKER, B. & MARK, G. (2002) Social Conventions in Computer Mediated
Communication: A Comparison of Three Online Shared Virtual Environments. In
SCHROEDER, R. (Ed.) The Social Life of Avatars. Surrey, UK, Springer.
NAKAMURA, L. (2001) Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on
the Internet. In TREND, D. (Ed.) Reading digital culture: Keyworks in cultural studies; 4.
Malden, Mass.; Oxford, Blackwell Publishers.
SLATER, M. & STEED, A. (2002) Meeting People Virtually: Experiments in Shared Virtual
Environments. In SCHROEDER, R. (Ed.) The Social Life of Avatars. Surrey, UK, Springer.
YEE, N. (2007) THE PROTEUS EFFECT: BEHAVIOURAL MODIFICATION VIA
TRANSFORMATIONS OF DIGITAL SELF-REPRESENTATION. Communication. Palo Alto, CA,
Stanford
YEE, N. & BAILENSON, J. (2006) Walk A Mile in Digital Shoes: The Impact of Embodied
Perspective-Taking on The Reduction of Negative Stereotyping in Immersive Virtual
Environments. (Electronic Article).
http://vhil.stanford.edu/pubs/2006/yee-digital-shoes.pdf, [date accessed] 8 November
2007
YEE, N., BAILENSON, J. N., URBANEK, M., CHANG, F. & MERGET, D. (2007) The
Unbearable Likeness of Being Digital: The Persistence of Nonverbal Social Norms in Online
Virtual Environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(1), 115-121.
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2006.9984
Further Reading Journal of Computer Mediated Communication
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/ SHERWIN, J. (2007) Get a (Second) Life Studying Behavior in a
Virtual World. Observer. Association for Psychological Science, (Online Journal). http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2179, [date accessed] 12 August 2009
DANET, B. (1996) Computer-Mediated Communication. Jerusalem, Hebrew University, (Online article). http://pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il/~msdanet/cmc1.htm, [date accessed] 12 August 2009
MARVIN, L.-E. (1995) Spoof, Spam, Lurk and Lag: the aesthetics of Text-based Virtual Realities. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Play and Performance in CMC ed. Indiana, International Communication Association, (Online Journal). http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120837658/HTMLSTART, [date accessed] 12 August 2009
References Cited in this Presentation BRUCKMAN, A. (1993) Gender Swapping on the Internet. The Internet Society. San Francisco,
(Conference paper). http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/Computing/Articles+ResearchPapers/gender-swapping, [date accessed] 15 August 2009
GACKENBACH, J. & STACKELBERG, H. V. (2007) Self Online: Personality and Demographic Implications. In GACKENBACH, J. (Ed.) Psychology and the Internet. Burlington, MA, Elsevier.
HALL, E. (1966) The Hidden Dimension, Anchor Books. JACK, R. E., BLAIS, C., SCHEEPERS, C., SCHYNS, P. G., & CALDARA, R. (2008) Cultural Confusions Show
Facial Expressions are Not Universal Current Biology, (in press) JOINSON, A. N. (2003) Understanding the psychology of Internet behaviour : virtual worlds, real lives,
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York, Palgrave Macmillan. MCLUHAN, M. (2001) Understanding media: The extensions of man. London ; New York, Routledge. NAKAMURA, L. (2001) Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet. In
TREND, D. (Ed.) Reading digital culture: Keyworks in cultural studies ; 4. Malden, Mass. ; Oxford, Blackwell Publishers. PHILIPCHALK, R. P. & MCCONNELL, J. V. (1994) Understanding human behavior, Forth Worth, Tex.,
Harcourt Brace College Publishers. RODINO, M. (1997) Breaking out of Binaries: Reconceptualizing Gender and its Relationship to Language
in Computer-Mediated Communication Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Annenberg, University of Southern California, (Electronic Journal). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol3/issue3/rodino.html, [date accessed] 18 August 2009
TAYLOR, T. L. (2002) Living Digitally: Embodiement in Virtual Worlds. In SCHROEDER, R. (Ed.) The Social Life of Avatars. London, Springer-Verlag.
YEE, N. & BAILENSON, J. (2007) The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self-Representation on Behavior. (in press in Human Communication Research). http://www.nickyee.com/pubs/Yee%20&%20Bailenson%20-%20Proteus%20Effect%20(in%20press).pdf, [date accessed]
Video Links
CMC general http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=oAEIiguKAYU Animations and gestures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_-3c_aC-O4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WplYhxyFd3M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WKo4G8aQBc