For this assignment, I, like most of the students in Comm 245, chose a chat room as my psychological space on the internet. This space was the most popular among students because of its ability to allow synchronous conversations to take place. I also chose this type of online psychological space because I felt that it would be the most effective way to form impressions of others. I decided to enter a chat room with a specific title to see if my preconceived notions about others, based on the type of chat room they were in, would affect my overall impression of those individuals. This may sound rather odd, but I made a choice to enter a gay chat room. That decision was not based on my own sexual orientation; instead, I chose a chat room in which most people assume that inappropriate sexual behavior is the only topic of discussion. What if this belief was really just an over generalized stereotype about gay men? So, although it was a bit awkward, I pushed myself to step outside of my comfort zone and enter the gay chat room.
After speaking to many people in the general chat room, I entered into a private chat with a man claiming to be from Saratoga in New York, although I am not quite sure where that is. The beginning of our conversation seemed to follow a predictable sequence. He asked my age which I said was 26 and he then revealed to me that he was 35. I was pleasantly surprised to see that not all men in gay chat rooms were looking for sex. My impression immediately changed, however, when I asked the man about his interests and he replied with a crude, sexual remark. I then wondered, had this man simply been preserving himself until he felt comfortable enough to begin “dirty talk” or was he initially expressing his true self but then altered his speech when he thought I was being “suggestive” by asking him about his interests? If the latter were the case, this would be an example of behavioral confirmation. Since it is a generalized belief that gay chat rooms are meant for sexual discussions, this man may have assumed that I was thinking along those lines and felt pressured to confirm my supposed assumption.
Either way, I could not help but feel as though my generalizations had been proved right from this experience. My attempt to go into a gay chat room with an open mind failed immediately when that stereotype was confirmed. Therefore, I feel that my impression was in line with the hyperpersonal model because I could not help but over generalize and form potentially exaggerated views of this man simply based on his brief, yet explicit response to my question about his interests.
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My name is Catherine Walsh. I thought that you had a really interesting approach to this assignment, not unlike myself. You entered the Gay chat room because you wanted to explore truths of stereotypes while also observing a target; I did the same thing. I entered a chat room for children carrying the stereotype that I would probably find creepy old men and woman trying to harass young children. In this case you have clearly exihibited the hyperpersonal theory. After one leud comment your perseption of the target changed drastically. I had a similar experience.
I found your post to be really interesting. Like others, and like yourself, I entered a chat room with preconceived notions about what kind of chatters I would find inside. The chat room I chose, however, was a support group, and like you, I found what I expected to find within the chat room, a group of supportive people. In your situation, it's interesting to me to consider the possibility that perhaps the man with whom you chatted was striving to meet the expectations that he thought you would have of him. If this was the case, the expectations of both of you were fulfilled as a result of the expectations you expected the other person to have.
Hello Jessica,
Just like others, I too found your experience to be interesting. I think I was most intrigued with the fact that you went into the chatroom with preconceived notions about a particular group of individuals (in this case, gay men). I found this interesting because I am assuming that this notion about gay men in chatrooms and their “search” for only sex was probably formed from interaction or knowledge learned from real-world society—not a virtual society. It is interesting how we apply knowledge obtained in real-life situations to things such as online occurrences. It was also a bit disappointing to learn that the particular individual lived up to the stereotype by presenting sexual tendencies and giving you a negative interpretation of gay men in chatrooms. Do you think your negative impression could also be the result of the CFO theory? I would hope that not all gay men participating in chatrooms are only after sex. Perhaps if you met some of these individuals in real-life social situations they would react quite differently and give you a more positive impression.
I suppose it is somewhat safe to assume that online spaces truly do make certain individuals feel uninhibited!
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