1. Computer-Mediated Communication
Self-presentation, interpersonal perception, and signals
August 2016

2. From Text to Images…Audio…Video
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Computer-Mediated Communication

3. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication
Identity: “Who am I?”
Identity consists of personal identity + social identity
Social identity often based on group affiliations
Note the paradigm shift in conceptions of identity —
Modern (Enlightenment through 20th century)
Fixed, stable, unitary
Post-Modern (now)
Fluid, multiple, socially constructed
Different roles in different settings: “One wakes up as a lover, makes breakfast as a mother, and drives to work as a lawyer.” — Sherry Turkle
Different contexts make different aspects of our identity more salient: e.g., a classroom, party, church, a protest, or family dinner.
Faceted identity
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

4. Identity Theory (Sociology)
Identity Theory (e.g., Stryker 1980)
Individuals have “role identities”: character and the role an individual devises as an occupant of a particular social position. ‘Self’ is hierarchical ordering of identities by salience. The greater the commitment on an identity, the greater the salience of the identity. Salience of identity influences behavioral choices in a situation.
Identity Theory is from Sociology
Social Identity Theory is from Psychology: consider sports identification example, in-group/out-groups
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

5. When and where do you “activate” your identity?
…consider female voter example
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

6. Social Identity Theory (Psychology)
Social Identity Theory (e.g., Tajfel et al. 1981; Turner 1985)
How group membership and “belongingness” have consequences for interpersonal and intergroup relations. As one looks for a positive sense of self, they compare their group with other groups and tend to create a favorable distinction for their own group
CORFing!!!
Social Identity Theory is from Psychology: consider sports identification example, in-group/out-groups
Essentially, we act in ways that bolster our own self esteem– including how we related to groups (ingroup favoratism)
BIRGing or CORFing…”Bask in Reflected Glory”, or “Cutting Off Reflected Failure” see: Hirt et al. 1992
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

7. “Minimal Group” Paradigm
Minimal Group Studies: just being in a group can have relatively profound effects.
We tend to attribute out-group success to ‘luck’ and in-group success to innate qualities
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

8. Identity and CMC selection and use
Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
A different kind of identity--- what does your selection of medium say about who you are (or how you see yourself)?
Image courtesy of:
IRC-Galleria
See: Lampinen, Airi, Vilma Lehtinen and Coye Cheshire (2014). "Media Choice and Identity Work: A Case Study of Information Communication Technology Use in a Peer Community." Communication and Information Technologies Annual 2014: Doing and Being Digital: Mediated Childhoods. Shelia Cotton, Laura Robinson, Jeremy Shulz (Eds.).
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

9. Identity and the Internet
Concept of Disembodiment: identity/soul/spirit separate from physical body
CMC allows us to adopt identities independent from our bodies (and the markers they contain)
Sherry Turkle (1995): “[On the Internet] you can be whoever you want to be. You can completely redefine yourself if you want. [People] don’t look at your body and make assumptions. They don’t hear your accent and make assumptions. All they see are your words.”
“One can have as many electronic personas as one has time and energy to create.” — Donath
How accurate is this statement?
Image:
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

10. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication
“Before, while you were sleeping, you were sleeping…you weren’t waking up to an entire other self that existed in this online space that’s being commented on.” 
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

11. Self-presentation and identity
Symbolic markers express our identity to others — and help us make sense of it ourselves
Signals of who we are (or want to be, or want people to think we are)
Offline: clothes, hair, body modifications
Online?
Identity is socially constructed and informed by our relations with others — what they think of us, what we think of them, how we think of ourselves.
Quote from the textbook.
Symbolic interactionism perspective from sociology
Meaning comes from social interaction, and is constantly re-interpreted
It is a pragmatic approach– in part this means that everything is in relation to other things that are going on.
This is in contrast to the earlier behaviorist approach, which focused on consistent responses to stimuli. In its stronger form, it argued that all behavior can be explained this way. SI makes room for interpretation, thought, and context, the making of meaning.
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

12. A brief introduction to Symbolic Interaction
“The character of interaction as it takes place between human beings.”
Herbert Blumer ( ) developed much of the sociological approach to Symbolic Interaction (SI)
Long history of development in both philosophy and sociology
Blumer actually coined the term SI;
Meaning comes from social interaction, and is constantly re-interpreted
It is a pragmatic approach– in part this means that everything is in relation to other things that are going on.
Other perspectives came from Symbolic Interactionism, including “Ethnomethodology” ,breaching studies, and conversation analysis.
In essence: people act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them; and these meanings are derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation”
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

13. An example: George Herbert Mead’s “Looking Glass Self”
Individuals tend to act according to the view that they believe society has for them.
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

14. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication
Core Ideas of SI
Human behavior is considered primarily social rather than solely as a function of individual ‘personality’.
Human action must be understood as within, as well as between humans.
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

15. Goffman’s approach and focus
How individuals create and maintain their “social self”
Dramaturgical approach: Uses theater and drama as a metaphor for how we develop and present ourselves
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

16. Frontstage and backstage
Front-stage behaviors: audience-facing. Engaging in “impression management” to portray a convincing front or role.
Back-stage: Away from audience view, but often including important preparatory work for the public presentation of self.
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

17. More key concepts from Goffman
“Sincere” vs. “cynical”
“Idealization”
“Definition of the situation”
“Expressions given”
“Expressions given off”
“Impression management”
Sincere vs. cynical performance. Does performer believe in the performance? Religious leaders and changing relationship with faith. Con artists. Ken Lay of Enron?
Idealization. “Filling in gaps of knowledge about others with ideal types.”
Definition of the situation. “A shared definition of a social event, accomplished through symbolic interaction.”
Definition of Situation is especially important: in the same environment, the symbolic interaction of individuals leads to a conception of what is happening and what it means for participants and observers.
Impression management. All of the processes and efforts that individuals go through to maintain a performance.
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

18. Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication
What is the ‘symbolic interaction’ in a doctor visit?
Consider…
“setting” : scenic parts of expressive equipment
“front” : the aspects that we identify with the ‘performer’ (clothes, socio-demographic characteristics, etc)
Front also includes gestures and expression, posture, etc. Fixed or standard aspects of the performance of a role.
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

19. What – specifically– is the “setting” in technology- mediated interaction?
(And, who defines the setting)?
Socially and technically constructed.
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Cheshire & King — Computer-Mediated Communication

20. Expressions “given” and “given off”
Goffman discusses two types of expressions:
“given” vs
“given off”
This has huge implications for ‘lean’ channels of communication:
If our interactions are symbolically meaningful in an evolving social manner, then our reliance/preferences/evolving norms around cmc should affect our ability to interpret expressions given and given off.
Given = intentional
Given off = unintentional
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21. So, why exactly is SI important for CMC?
Quite simply, its where much of our daily communication is occurring.
SI was always important in f2f and other communication styles, but our reliance on CMC is important
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22. Signaling Assessment signals Handicap (costly) signals Index signals
Conventional signals
What are some examples of signals in CMC?
On social media, online forums, on ….etc?
Assessment or “honest” signals.
Handicap signals — indicate possession of a finite resource that you “waste” to produce the signal — you have enough of the resource that you can produce the signal and still survive, e.g., big antlers on a stag, an expensive car
Index signals — require the quality they signal to produce them, e.g., being good at tennis is an index signal of coordination, bigger tigers scratching higher on trees
Conventional signals — the connection of the signal to the quality is through convention, nothing inherent guarantees it. E.g., wearing a Gold’s Gym t-shirt to signal strength. Through social institutions, humans have made conv. signals more reliable than have other animals. (e.g., medical license)
Cost of probing — effort needed to assess honesty of signal
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23. “
The online world is a wholly built environment. The architects of a virtual space — from the software designers to the site administrators — shape the community in a more profound way than do their real-world counterpart. People eat, sleep, and work in buildings; the buildings affect how happily they do these things. But the buildings do not completely control their perception of the world. In the electronic domain, the design of the environment is everything.
Donath ”
— Donath
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