This work is a chapter for the Academic Press book "Psychology and the Internet", edited by Jayne Gackenbach. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by Academic Press. This material may not be copied or reposted without explicit permission. (Copyright 1998 by Academic Press).
Cite as;
King, S. A & Moreggi, D. (1998). Internet therapy and self help groups - the pros and cons. In J. Gackenbach (Ed.), Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Transpersonal Implications (pp. 77-109). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Internet therapy and self help groups - the pros and cons.
2. The psychology of text based relationships.
Computer mediated communication (CMC) is a self explanatory term. CMC has been a field of research dating back to the first use of computers as communication devices, well before the current proliferation of home personal computers (PC's)(see chapter 11). Since the advent of relatively affordable PC's, words such as 'cyberspace' and terms such as 'virtual communities' and 'information superhighway' have gained popularity . The spread of what can be called 'the Internet phenomena' has been so fast, and so broad, that the language used to describe it is still evolving. It is now customary to refer to the use of the Internet as being 'online'. Online is the term used here to describe the entire range of CMC activity, from asynchronous email transmissions to synchronous chat room participation.
E-mail is a form of communication that is increasingly becoming a part of people's normal lives. There is less of a sense of social presence using email (Sproull & Kiesler, 1984). The lack of tactile sensory feedback and the privacy of being in ones own home contribute to a different sense of being connected socially. This "makes it easier to contact strangers because there is less concern about rude intrusion or interpersonal risk" (Wellman, 1996; Stoll, 1995). The ability to find ones peers, no matter how esoteric the topic of interest is, is causing an explosion in the number and use of virtual communities (King, 1994). Resources of researchers interested in studying the psychology of virtual communities can be found on the web at http://rdz.stjohns.edu/~storm
Before people can fully utilize the potential inherent in Internet interpersonal relationships, the social dynamics of this new medium must be better understood. Online communication challenges several firmly held expectations about the nature of oral and written correspondence. The most widely reported finding from researchers who have studied the interpersonal aspects of online interactions is the disinhibition that occurs (Keisler, Siegel & McGuire 1984; King, 1995a; Reid, 1994; Sproull & Kiesler, 1984; Sproull & Kiesler, 1995). The improbability of any local, real life repercussions for on-line social activity produces a new and poorly understood psychological phenomena; people feel free to express themselves in an unrestrained manner. "If all computer-mediated communication systems can be said to have one single unifying effect upon human behavior it is that usage tends to cause the user to become less inhibited." (Reid, 94). (See chapter 2). Judgments of others in this virtual social setting, made without the normal sensual clues, can consist of distorted, emotionally laden projections (King, 1995a), and can be communicated without the normal constraints imposed by the need to maintain social order (Huang & Alessi, 1996). Research is slowly starting to delineate the psychological differences engendered by online interactivity.
One of the first research findings to come out of the study on online behavior has to do with status. The lack of sensual clues and relative anonymity creates a more level playing field for online social interactions. The normal situational and visual clues that tell some one about the status and position of another are absent (Keisler et. al., 1984). People have an enhanced opportunity to feel at ease with others. Communication is reduced to it's elemental state of the exchange of ideas and concepts. Matters of age, race and even gender have much less influence over online interactions then they do face to face (f2f). How power and status is gained or lost in open online communities is a question for future research to answer. It has been suggested that ones status can be raised by frequent posting of short, helpful or self-disclosing messages (King, 1997a).
Internet communication increases the range of possible social networks that a person can connect to, and adds elements of diversity that are very appealing to some (Wellman, 1996). The types of differences between people that might inhibit relationship formation are hidden. This promotes a sense of group membership, one that is solely dependent on the perceptions of the receiver. Control over impression formation is enhanced in written mediums. People can select only aspects of themselves that they choose to make public. There is a "hyperpersonal aspect" to Internet communications, a means to be more selective about how one presents ones self. "Another component of the (hyperpersonal) model, feedback, suggests that these heightened self-presentations and idealized perceptions magnify each other to a superordinal level, as users reciprocate each other's partial and selective presentations." (Walther & Boyd 1997 p.8). This magnification factor of the hyperpersonal model is a theoretical formulation that could help account for the high rates of flame wars (arguments) and love affairs that happen on the net. There is as yet no empirical evidence supporting the observation that flame wars and love affairs occur in open, interactive virtual communities at a rate higher than what one would find in f2f groups, but there is a growing body of anecdotal reports of this and a widespread awareness of a high frequency of these extreme interpersonal Internet exchanges.
Most people are very familiar with communication protocols in the use of the telephone, or a written letter. Not all, however, are adept at writing with the intent of disclosing intimacies previously unexpressed. Text that is conversational in nature, as it exists on the Internet today, is a new phenomenon. These communications can appear colder and much more impersonal than the author intended. People develop the impression, over a lifetime exposure to books and print media, that written text represents the well thought out and carefully edited views of the writer. Internet communications are most often the product of someone "typing off the top of his or her head". The reader may in turn interpret these messages as being far more representative of the writer's firmly held thoughts and feelings than is warranted.
2. A. The value of online group participation.
It is the social aspect of computer assisted communication, the interpersonal exchange with others, that is so stimulating, rewarding and reinforcing that some people are finding it hard to know when to stop (see Suler, 1996; Young & Rogers, 1998) (see also http://netaddiction.com). Internet communications offer people an opportunity to experience a form of social contact, with no real social presence. The significant difference between Internet relationships and ones maintained by other existing technologies (telephones, mail, fax's) is the new culture values of Internet virtual communities. They have social norms that allow for, and even encourage, contact with relative strangers. "As Rheingold (1993) notes, one might think the Net a cold place, and yet it need not be. In the impersonal isolation of our large cities, where people often live separated from kin, or lonely amid the multitudes, the Net can become a surrogate social life - a vital source of interpersonal contact despite its non-physical nature." (North, 1996). The level of concern for fellow participants in Internet forums is remarkable. These online groups are distinct from f2f meetings in their ability to engender a sense of community among people who hardly know each other or are in fact total strangers (Wellman & Gulia, 1995). There is a higher degree of feeling connected than would be expected from interpersonal relating devoid of body language and other nonverbal clues (Nickerson, 1994).
"An on-line community is one of the easiest ways to meet new people. Certainly it is very low-risk. I think this is mainly due to the essential informality of on-line conversation. Rather than being required to sustain a single conversation with one or more people, relationships usually form out of numerous, often short exchanges. But, over time, many people form enduring relationships this way. In the on-line environment, just like any other social situation, the basic currency is human attention. In the public forums, you communicate with groups that may have as many as several hundred people involved - even if they don't all make comments." (Coate, 1992)
There is a voyeuristic potential in Internet groups. People can "lurk", the term for just reading the notes that others post, and never reveal their presence. In fact, most email groups are composed of a majority of lurkers (Smith, 1993). Very little research exists to explain why so many people participate in what are often intimate social exchanges vicariously. Public typing, like public speaking, carries a risk of exposure. For many, the benefits of involvement and the excitement of participation does not depend on sharing their personal opinions or ideas, and feel that the benefit may be lessened by exposure. This aspect of Internet communities is not well understood at this point.
The Internet is a social technology. People connect to each other from vast distances, read notes posted by invisible others while remaining invisible themselves, all with very little logistic and social cost (Sproull & Faraj, 1995). Internet communities are fulfilling people need for affiliation, providing information and support, and allowing diverse groups a greater political voice. There are down sides to this Internet interconectivity, but little research exists about the detrimental effects experienced by some. Addiction to the Internet, and addiction to the pornography available online (qualitatively different from porn legally available in US adult book stores), are two areas that demand further study. (See chapters 5 and 7).
Several diverse fields of study are converging on the overall topic of online interpersonal relationships. Sociologists are studying the community building and political empowering aspects of Internet forums . Linguists are analyzing posted notes to see how they reflect underlying communication protocols. Educators at all levels of academia are studying the personal dynamics of text only relationships to better utilize the growing field of distant education. Courses are currently being developed that will instruct psychologists in how to incorporate advanced communication technology into clinical practice. There is currently a resurgence in the use of naturalistic observation and participant observation research methodologies. Social scientists of all persuasions are finding a wealth of data in the publicly available, archived records of Internet communities. There is often an acknowledgment of the need to protect what King (1996a) describes as the Perceived Privacy factor - the extent that members feel that their notes are going to be read only by other members with a personal interest in that topic, regardless of the true public nature of their notes.