Hi Mark,
I agree that things may be taken more personally, but I think
another major issue is the absence of the usual factors that might inhibit
aggressive responses. To be aggressive in that fictional face to face group
of ten might have instant ramifications. Also, I think that email "feels"
private; you're in your office by yourself, at home, etc., perhaps in the
same way that being in our car "feels" private, so we rant and rave in ways
we wouldn't in public.
Just a thought.
Joe Hatcher
Ripon College
Ripon, WI 54971
> ----------
> From: G. Marc Turner
> Reply To: G. Marc Turner
> Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 1999 4:34 PM
> To: TIPS
> Subject: Aggression research
>
> 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 ...
>
