I entered a chatroom (titled chatroom) and simply said “hello”. One person in the chatroom yelled at me for talking and as that happened one of the other people in the chatroom IMed me, so he became my target to observe. Our conversation was short and almost sweet, and I will summarize it for you now. He first asked if I was a girl. I answered honestly and said “yes”. Since he initiated the IM and asked the first question, he was showing several signs of extraversion. I then asked him if he understood why the person in the chat yelled at me, and he said he didn’t know, but also that he wouldn’t talk to that person. This made me feel that he was quite agreeable. So far I was finding this boy, nate00714 to be precise, to be very warm to me. I next asked him if he was a boy. He responded yes, and then gave me his ASL, and asked for mine. Offering information I didn’t asked for, showed me that he could also fall under the personality category of open. I gave him my ASL, again being honest, and while he seemed like a warm, nice guy, things were about to take a turn for the cold. He asked if I had any “pics,” and I responded by saying that my icon was a picture of myself. He said he couldn’t see the picture and asked me to send him some. I told him I didn’t want to send one, he asked why not, I said because I just wanted to chat, and then he said “nvm ur fugly.”
My target was clearly in control of the conversation and he clearly had an agenda that I could not fulfill. By the end of the conversation, he had fit into the stereotype in my mind of an online sexual being looking for his prey. There were just 14 lines to our IM, yet I was categorizing my target left and right. It appears that the Hyperpersonal Model was at work in my head.
I have no idea who this person is. He may or may not be a he. Especially after reading the article “The Strange Case of The Electronic Lover”, chat rooms make me very skeptical about what people say. Yet, I believed what he said and based on the little interaction we had, I had labeled him as a not too friendly boy looking for a girl to do cyber-sexual things with. This is all based on the small fact that he wanted to see my picture and his reaction when I wouldn’t give it to him. The over-attribution process was most definitely put into play when I analyzed this person. Although at the start of this conversation I was leaning to the positive extreme, this boys’ last remark made me feel completely negative about him. In just 14 lines being able to form such a strong negative feeling shows that my impression was quite in line with the Hyperpersonal Model.
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3 comments:
I too received an odd response when I first greeted my chatroom. Instead of being yelled at, I was ignored. Do you think most people who are in chatrooms are extraverted? Otherwise, why else would people join a chatroom?
It seems that his trait of readily agreeing with everything you said demonstrates the behavioral confirmation aspect of the Hyperpersonal Model. Since you confided in him by asking him why the person yelled at you, he was probably unconsciously agreeing with you about the person’s rude yelling because he thought that was how you wanted him to react, and of course, by fulfilling your expectations, the conversation would flow better.
I think it is in our nature to be skeptical of what people say in chatrooms because a lot of people there seem to have an ulterior motive. I’m skeptical of what people say there since I also lie about basic information, but I do it for privacy/safety reasons.
Justine,
I enjoyed reading your post since its story-like format allowed me to understand exactly what went on in your chatroom experience. I found it very interesting that your target became so cold when you simply decided not to send him a picture. Sending and receiving pictures online seem to open up another dimension of self-presentation which can range from sending him an accurate picture of yourself to the best picture you have of yourself to a photograph of someone who isn’t even you! Just as you mentioned when bringing up “The Strange Case of The Electronic Lover”,” deception online can be very easy.
I know you mentioned your conversation was only 14 lines long, but I wonder if you answered after he made that rude comment. The way you responded (whether it be writing a nasty comment back or simply leaving the chatroom without saying a word) may have led to him over-attributing your own cues and creating an exaggerated impression of you as well. Since he formed a negative impression of you after you simply wouldn’t send him a picture of yourself, your reaction to this comment probably affected his initial impression of you as well. Your experience definitely supports the hyperpersonal model since that one negative comment enabled you to form an extremely negative impression of the target.
Hey Justine,
I enjoyed reading your post very much. I also went into a chat room for my assignment, though I had a bit of a different experience. In my interaction, I tried to flirt with a girl and got shut down. When I related my experience to yours it makes me think that I could have come off as the cybersex-starved jerk that you described. I didn’t ask my target for any pictures of herself but I did refer to her as “fugly”(which was intended as a joke) as I tried to woo her online. Based on the context of the conversation, I believe my target knew I was joking but there is also the chance that she didn’t. When I was finished chatting with my target I had decided that I didn’t know anything about her because everything I thought I knew was based on things like icons and pauses, which are things that I don’t believe tell you anything significant about another person. I went with the CFO model but I see why you would go with the hyper personal.
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