What Am I: Identity Across Different Cyberspaces
- 11:00 25th April 2013 ( week 1, Trinity Term 2013 )Tony Hoare Room, Robert Hooke Building
Since the advent of the Internet, scholars have questioned whether individuals are the same online as they are in the physical world. Some have speculated that individuals can escape their offline selves and be very different people online; however, there is little rigorous research to test these claims. Moreover, research does not typically compare different online spaces. This paper will present preliminary findings from a series of studies which compare overall self with online selves (Facebook, twitter, online dating, LinkedIn). Given that the self has been operationalized in different ways by psychologists this paper considers this paper measures the self in two different ways: how individuals described themselves as well as via psychometric tests used to operationalise personality (e.g., openness, consciousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism). Some interesting results emerge when we compare selves across these spaces. The differences might be, in part, attributed to individuals’ need to impression manage as well as the architecture of the sites. It is concluded here that the Internet affords different opportunities to present different aspects of identity.
Speaker bio
Professor Monica Whitty began her academic career in Australia, where she worked in the School of Psychology at Macquarie University (1995-1996), and in the School of Applied, Social and Human Sciences, at the University of Western Sydney (1998-2003). Moving to the UK, Monica was appointed as a lecturer in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, then as Reader in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. Finally she took up a Chair in Contemporary Media at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Leicester where she currently works.Share this:
