Much is written about the benefits of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) but many accounts report problematic interactions and less than desirable outcomes for attempts at CSCL. A theoretical approach is presented that is grounded in a social identity perspective of groups and seeks to promote and support successful collaborations. Using this approach, along with examples from laboratory and field studies, key concepts such as cohesion, participation, accountability and group norms ... 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
Social Psychology of the Internet
Lea, M. & Spears, R. (2003). Social Psychology of the Internet. In K. Christensen & D. Levinson (Eds.) Sage Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World. (pp. 779-783). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Social psychology has a long history of researching the effects of communication technologies, such as the telephone and television, on individuals and groups. Social psychological research on the Internet has focused predominantly on text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as e-mail, bulletin boards, newsgroups, conferencing, and chat. These have been compared both theoretically and empirically with face-to-face communication or with some other standard that controls for certain ... Continue Reading
Social psychological theories of computer-mediated communication: Social pain or social gain?
Spears, R., Lea, M., & Postmes, T. (2001). Social psychological theories of computer-mediated communication: Social pain or social gain? In W. P. Robinson and H. Giles (eds.) The New Handbook of Language and Social Psychology (pp. 601-623). Chichester: Wiley.
It is a safe bet that computer-mediated communication (CMC) features in the everyday life of those likely to be consulting this volume. Less than two decades ago this would not have been the case. The growth of the Internet has meant that CMC use has become ubiquitous in the developed world, and a marker of social exclusion for those denied access. Social science has hardly kept pace with these technological changes in communication, either in terms of understanding their global impacts or ... Continue Reading