Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: his study examined differences in intimacy (operationally defined as the degree of emotional intensity) between face-to-face interactions, computer interactions with emoticons, and computer interactions without emoticons.Subjects conversed with a confederate for 25 minutes either face-to-face, over AOL instant messenger while the confederate spoke in plain text only, or over AOL instant messenger while the confederate spoke with emoticons in addition to plain text; in both instant messenger conditions, the subject did not see the confederate.Findings were mixed, with some support for the main hypothesis, that there would be greater intensity in computer than in face-to-face interaction.The findings of this study and the need for future research are discussed.Intimacy is a term which is often used, but difficult to define.One person's idea of the concept of "intimacy" may be quite different than that of another person.A recent study concluded that intimacy contained four main components: selfdisclosure, love and affection, personal validation, and trust (Hook, Gerstein, Detterich & Gridley, 2003).In an earlier study subjects reported that positive feelings toward their partner, talking (especially about topics of an intimate nature) and sharing activities are associated with intimacy (Helgeson, Shaver & Dyer, 1987).However, intimacy is not always viewed in the same way between the sexes.In one study, men directly associated sex and physical contact with intimacy, whereas women rarely mentioned sex and mentioned physical contact simply as a way of expressing other components of intimacy (Helgeson et al., 1987).In this study, it was found that for both men and women physical contact was rarely mentioned in same-sex intimate experiences, however, appreciation, happiness, talking, problem sharing and/or solving, experience sharing and activity sharing were all mentioned.Additionally, distant, non-intimate experiences were characterized with feeling awkward, feeling hurt, having arguments, a lack of communication, and disapproval.While there are many factors which may influence the level of intimacy experienced in an interaction, such as self-disclosure, body language, and expressiveness, it is unclear how the type of interaction between the individuals, whether face-to-face or on a computer, may effect this experience.Emily Snow, from East Bridgewater, is a senior majoring in psychology.
Author: Emily Snow
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1588933151