Hello,
For this assignment I chose to enter an online chat-room, something I never really got into doing over my years on the internet. There were a variety of rooms, so I chose to go into a room labeled teen-chat to see the conversation of some younger people. As I was considering the readings I realized that I would most likely label the people in this chat room by their age, even though they could in fact be 30 years old and lying. I entered expecting immature conversations, and random insults volleyed around aimlessly. So of course I had primed myself to find these things.
My target, “the dreamer”, a teenage Canadian caught my attention upon entering the room as I witnessed him berating another chatter about his handle/nickname. From just this initial offense I had already perceived a strong negative opinion about his personality. I began to think he was immature and mean, and unintentionally looked for other things he did that strengthened this finding. As the conversation continued he surprisingly began talking about politics, but not in a rude manner. He spoke of the positive aspects of the Canadian health care system and spoke of other policies of his country showing he had national pride. He gave some reasoning however no one really responded to him, but instead just made random comments that chat rooms are known for.
My findings are interesting, and I feel that they support the Hyper personal model. The first thing I did was form an exaggerated opinion based on little data supporting the over-attribution processes. I thought that his insistence on changing a nickname was uncalled for, and although he didn’t cross any lines, like saying inappropriate things, I still found myself form a cold opinion of him. However as I stayed in the chat room longer and watched him talk I began to find him more of an intellectual person. I attribute this to the developmental aspect/SIP part of the Hyper personal model, as I got more data I was able to form a more correct opinion, although since it was such a short amount of time it still comes nothing near the face to face.
3 comments:
Hey Chris!
Sounds like you were well prepared for the regression implicit in a teenage chat room experience! It's very interesting that his negativity towards another user was the first thing that caught your attention- it seems that the interactions we observe between our targets and other users can prove to be some of the most influential in forming our opinions. I am curious as to whether any study has studied this vicarious impression formation further- would it exaggerate the effects of the hyper personal model even further?
In the future, you may wish to interact more directly with your target after observing him/her from the sidelines to compare the experiences you have as an observer and as you interact with the person. I imagine you would be able to define your experience even more clearly in terms of which model it fell under! Overall, very nice post!!
I liked your post because most people had direct interaction with their target-many had invited a chat room participant to engage in one-on-one communication. However, even from an observer’s prospective the theories still hold true. I can see why you initially thought that “the Canadian” was a cold hearted person due to his bullying. The hyperpersonal model relies heavily on non-verbal cues. You interpreted his comments as mean but perhaps he was simply being sarcastic. The absence of non-verbal cues led you to interpret his words as you pleased.
The Fundamental Attribution Error is also something so consider. I know we covered this in class after the blog but the theory can be applied to your example. It states that when people say something negative, one automatically thinks that they are a cold person. However, when the one person says something negative, it is simply relevant to the current situation. You were able to “fix” this error by observing for a longer period of time, wherein you realized that it was a situational constraint that caused his harsh words.
It's interesting to notice the self-presentation that "the dreamer" made. He presented himself as neither an moron, just out to have some fun picking on people, or an intellectual trying to convince people that his country was superior to others. He presented two very different aspects of his personality and it seems that he did not give much thought to consequences of his words. The high degree of anonymity afforded to him by the chat room probably gave him a sense of security, allowing him to not worry about his self-presentation and talk about what ever he wanted.
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