Self-Presentation and Impression Formation on Internet Relay Chat
Date
1997
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
The processes of self-presentation and impression formation were examined, across conditions of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and face-to-face interactions. Subjects completed a Big Five personality measurement for "how they are" and "how they wish to be". After interacting in small groups either face-to-face or via IRC, subjects judged the other members of their groups along the same dimensions. Difference scores between the subjects' 'actual' self-rated personality, 'ideal' self-rated personality, and impressions of others were compared across IRC-Expert, IRC-Novice and face-to-face conditions. The sessions were logged, coded and analyzed across groups to examine the processes of self-presentation and impression formation as functions of medium, and of self-selection. Overall, subjects were judged more like how they said they actually were than how they said they wished to be across all conditions, for each personality trait dimension. Results partially supported the prediction that IRC-Experts are able to be judged more like how they said they wished to be than how they said they actually were, within the reduced-cues medium.