I'm currently tossing around an idea for a study of aggression in computer
mediated environments (mainly listservs, but also realtime chat
environments, newsgroups, etc.), but have no training in this issue.
There seems to be a tendency for those on listservs to take comments as
more personal attacks on-line than if the same comment was made in a
conversion or discussion (for example: an email sent to 10 people will
generate more extreme responses than if the same content had been said to a
group of 10 people face-to-face.) One of my hunches is that since the email
appears to only one person at a time, it becomes more personal. As such, it
carries with it a greater threat since it seems to attack the individual
personally rather than being presented as a topic for discussion. This also
holds for responses that are sent back to the group on the topic. As a
consequence, what begins as a mild discussion can quickly escalate into
personal attacks between members of the list community. A side line to this
is that those not directly involved in the exchange, but exposed to it by
being members of the community, will also view the messages as more direct
attacks than they are intended. Also, I'm not sure if this is really more
common in an on-line environment than it is in face-to-face exchanges, but
I'm guessing that it is.
I delved into this type of thing a few years ago, but haven't kept up with
the CMC literature for some time now. As a result, the ideas are still
fuzzy in my head at the moment, but I would welcome any suggestions on
readings in this area or comments on the issue.
Thanks in advance,
- Marc
G. Marc Turner, MEd
Lecturer & Head of Computer Operations
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or ...
