Various social processes in decision-making groups are considered detrimental to the quality of decisions. It is often assumed that removing the ability for groups to exert strong social influence on its members improves group decisions. Group decision support systems (GDSSs) are increasingly used to remedy the social faults of the decision-making process in groups. In these systems, anonymity is seen as a tool to reduce the impact of the group over its members, and therefore as the key to ... Continue Reading
The In-SIDE story: Social psychological processes affecting on-line groups
Lea, M., Spears, R., Watt, S., & Rogers, P. (2000). The InSIDE story: Social psychological processes affecting on-line groups. In T. Postmes, R. Spears, M. Lea, & S.D. Reicher (Eds.) SIDE-issues centre-stage: Recent developments in studies of de-individuation in groups. Amsterdam: North Holland.
CMC provides a new paradigm for research into general deindividuation phenomena that can usefully clarify some of the complexities in earlier deindividuation research as well as test the intervening processes that deindividuating contexts supposedly activate. For example, it enables one to manipulate anonymity and identifiability independently from physical isolation and co-presence. Conceptual distinctions between different forms of anonymity, such as visual anonymity and nominal anonymity (not ... Continue Reading
On SIDE: Purview, problems, prospects
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Edited Book: “SIDE issues centre stage: Recent developments in the study of de-individuation in groups”
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Constructing the networked organization: Content and context in the development of electronic communications.
Lea, M., O’Shea, T. & Fung, P. (1999). Constructing the networked organization: Content and context in the development of electronic communications. In G. DeSanctis & J. Fulk (eds.). Shaping Organizational Form (pp. 295-324). Thousand Oaks: Sage. First published: Lea, M., O'Shea, T. & Fung, P. (1995) in Organization Science, 6, 4, 462-478
This paper presents a case study of the development of electronic communications in a changing organization with the aim of studying the complex relationship between content and context in the design and implementation of technological change in communications. The development of a computer-mediated communication system was followed over a period of four years during which time the participating organization expanded by acquisition and then reformed in conjunction with its neighbours in other ... Continue Reading
Social identity, group norms, and deindividuation: Lessons from computer-mediated communication for social influence in the group
Postmes, T., Spears, R., & Lea, M. (1999). Social identity, group norms, and "deindividuation": Lessons from computer-mediated communication for social influence in the group. In N. Ellemers, R. Spears, & B. Doosje (Eds.), Social identity: Context, commitment, content. Oxford: Blackwell.
This chapter reviews a program of research that has developed around the Social Identity model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE; Lea & Spears, 1991; Postmes & Spears, 1998; Postmes, Spears, & Lea, 1998; Reicher, Spears, & Postmes, 1995; Spears & Lea, 1992; 1994). In particular, we review intra-group processes in private and public settings in order to advance our understanding of normative influence in groups. Download full text This article has ... Continue Reading
SIDE-VIEW: An interactive web environment to support group collaborative learning
Lea, M., Postmes, T. & Rogers, P. (1999). SIDE-VIEW: An interactive web environment to support group collaborative learning. Educational Technology and Society 2, 33-34.
The aims and objectives are: (1) To provide a specification for the design of an interactive web environment to support group collaboration among geographically dispersed higher education students, based on recent social psychological theorizing about computer-mediated group interaction and ethnographic study of the problem domain of peer-learning and collaboration. (2) To iteratively develop a prototype software system, comprising a series of interactive web pages to support group ... Continue Reading
Breaching or building social barriers? SIDE effects of computer-mediated communication
Postmes, T. Spears, R. & Lea, M. (1998). Breaching or building social barriers? SIDE effects of computer-mediated communication. Communication Research 25, 689-715 (Special issue on '[Mis]communicating across boundaries').
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is sometimes heralded for its power to break down social boundaries and to liberate individuals from social influence, group pressure, and status and power differentials that characterize much face-to-face interaction. This paper reviews research conducted within the framework of the social identity model of deindividuation effects demonstrating that this is not always the case. When communicators share a common social identity, they appear to be more ... Continue Reading
Representations of the group and group processes in CSCW research: A case of premature closure?
Lea, M & Giordano, R. (1997). Representations of the group and group processes in CSCW research: A case of premature closure? In G.C. Bowker, S. L. Star, W. Turner & L. Gasser, (eds.). Social Science, Technical Systems and Cooperative Work: Beyond the Great Divide (pp. 5-26). Mahwah, NJ: LEA
This paper considers the extent to which the representation of the 'group' and 'group processes' in the design of CSCW and groupware[1] systems reflects some of the wider preoccupations of the computing and telecommunications communities. This is part of our larger concern, which is that activity modelers tend to represent human activities in ways that are most appropriate to the tools and techniques they have at hand. This implies that their modelling activities go beyond viewing human ... Continue Reading
Love at first byte: Building personal relationships over computer networks
Lea, M. & Spears, R. (1995). Love at first byte? Building personal relationships over computer networks. In J. T. Wood & S. Duck (Eds.). Under-Studied Relationships: Off the Beaten Track (pp. 197–233). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Our discussion of personal relationships and computer networks focuses on three issues of central concern in this volume. The first issue is to do with how relationship research currently privileges certain kinds of relationships while neglecting others. We describe relationships that have been observed in this new medium and identify a number of assumptions and biases underlying much social psychological theorizing that are common to both relationship research and media analyses. These ... Continue Reading
Panacea or panopticon? The hidden power in computer-mediated communication
Spears, R. & Lea, M. (1994). Panacea or panopticon? The hidden power in computer-mediated communication. Communication Research, 21, 427-459.
This article examines how interaction by means of computer-mediated communication (CMC) affects the operation of both status differentials and power relations, and attempts to identify the social psychological processes mediating the social and behavioral effects of these factors. The dominant assessment, particularly within social psychological analyses, is that CMC tends to equalize status, decentralize and democratize decision-making, and thus empower and liberate the individual user. This ... Continue Reading
Flaming in computer-mediated communication: Observations, explanations, implications
Lea, M., O’Shea, T., Fung, P. & Spears, R. (1992). 'Flaming' in computer-mediated communication: Observations, explanations and implications. In M. Lea (Ed.) Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication. (pp. 89–112). London: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.
The notion that ‘uninhibited behaviour’ is associated with communicating via computer has gained a great deal of attention. One manifestation, ‘flaming’ (the hostile expression of strong emotions and feelings) has been widely reported in the research literature and commented on in the national press. Indeed, flaming has come to be regarded as symptomatic of the down-side of installing computer conferencing and electronic mail systems in organizations. Advice on how management can ... Continue Reading
Paralanguage and social perception in computer-mediated communication
Lea, M. & Spears, R. (1992). Paralanguage and social perception in computer-mediated communication. Journal of Organizational Computing, 2, 321-342.
It is widely held that computer-mediated communication (CMC) filters out many of the social and affective cues associated with human interaction with consequent effects on communication outcomes and the medium's suitability for interpersonal tasks. The relationship between paralanguage and social perception in CMC in different social contexts in investigated in two experiments. In Study 1 it was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in subjects' perceptions of anonymous ... Continue Reading
Social influence and the influence of the social in computer-mediated communication
Spears, R. & Lea, M. (1992). Social influence and the influence of the ‘social’ in computer-mediated communication. In M. Lea (Ed.) Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication. (pp. 30–65). London: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.
In this chapter we explore the social psychological dimensions of computer-mediated communication (CMC). We shall not be directly concerned here with the processes by which people choose CMC in preference to other communications media (see e.g., Fulk & Boyd, 1991, for a recent review), although it will become obvious that our argument has implications for media choice models. Rather we are interested here in the social psychological factors operating once "inside" CMC and particularly the ... Continue Reading
Edited book: Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication – Martin Lea
About the book In 1992, just after commercial restrictions were lifted on what then became the Internet, and at the dawn of the World Wide Web, I published the book Contexts of Computer-Mediated Communication, which brought together the writings of some of the key researchers in the new field of computer-mediated communication. The book combines theoretical analyses of computer-mediated communication with discussion of its various forms and applications including electronic mail, ... Continue Reading
Computer-mediated communication, deindividuation, and group decision-making
Lea, M. & Spears, R. (1991). Computer-mediated communication, deindividuation, and group decision-making. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 34, 283-301 (Special issue on 'Computer supported cooperative work and groupware).
This paper discusses social psychological processes in computer-mediated communication and group decision-making in relation to findings that groups communicating via computer produce more polarized decisions than face-to-face groups. A wide range of possible explanations for such differences have been advanced, in which a lack of social cues, disinhibition, 'deindividuation' and a consequent tendency to antinormative behavior are central themes (Kiesler et al.,1984; Kiesler, 1986; Siegel et ... Continue Reading
Rationalist assumptions in cross-media comparisons of computer-mediated communication
Lea, M. (1991). Rationalist assumptions in cross-media comparisons of computer-mediated communication. Behaviour & Information Technology, 10, 153-172.
Users' comparisons between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and other forms of communication are of theoretical interest and have important implications for system design and implementation. This paper outlines the prevalent systems rationalist perspective on CMC, which sees the medium primarily as an efficient channel for information transfer in specific organizational tasks, and critically reviews the evidence which studies of users' perceptions and media preferences offer for this ... Continue Reading
Deindividuation and group polarization in computer-mediated communication
Spears, R., Lea, M. & Lee, S. (1990). De-individuation and group polarization in computer-mediated communication. British Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 121-134.
A computer-mediated communication system (CMCS) was used to explore the effects of de-individuation on group polarization. Reicher (1984) argued that de-individuating members of a group should increase the salience of group identity and hence normative behaviour, while de-individuating subjects treated as individuals should have the reverse effect. We extended this idea to the group-polarization paradigm and in addition independently manipulated group salience and de-individuation, which were ... Continue Reading
Investigating personal constructs of emotions
Parkinson, B. & Lea, M. (1991). Investigating personal constructs of emotions. British Journal of Psychology, 82, 73-86.
Forty-two first-year psychology students took part in an exploratory study of conceptions of emotions using Kelly's (1955) Repertory Grid technique. Each participant generated eight different personal constructs for comparing and contrasting eight different emotional states then rated these emotions on the basis of their own constructs. Analysis of the group data revealed five significant principal components. The first four of these components related to evaluation (positive versus ... Continue Reading
Breakdown of personal relationships and the threat to personal identity
Duck, S. & Lea, M. (1983). Breakdown of personal relationships and the threat to personal identity. In G. Breakwell (Ed.) Threatened Identities (pp. 53–73). Chichester: Wiley.
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