Vol.14,No.3 March,1999　

Title

Predicting the emergent group structures in communication network situations: A computer simulation analysis(<Special Issue>Social Psychology of Networking)

Author

Eiji TAKAGI (Faculty of Liberal Arts, Saitama University)

Summary

The group-level findings in classical experimental studies of communication networks may be considered the out come of some complex psychological mechanisms. Alternatively, they might ve mere reflections of the task structures of communication networks, and could be obtained even if human subjects reacted 'automatically.' In order to resolve such ambiguity, a computer simulation model was constructed, separating the task structures and the artificial subjects' response characteristics. This simulation model roughly reproducted the findings of communication network studies in terms of the following: (a) the increased efficiency of non-centralized networks relative to the Wheel network in the case of high task-difficulty; (b) role-structures in the respective networks; (c) the positions of 'leaders' in several networks research can be understood to be reflecting the task structures of the experimental situaitons to some degree. Implications and limitaions of this study are discussed.

Key words

communication networks, computer simulation, genetic algorithms

Title

An exploratory study of impression formation in computer-mediated communicaiton(<Special Issue>Social Psychology of Networking)

Author

Kwankyu KIM (The Division of Human Relations Graduate School of Keio University)

Summary

The purpose of this study is to make clear shat variables influence impression formation in computer-mediated communication. The personal impressions consisted of 7 dimensions: the big five factors of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness), and the communicator credibility (expertness, trust worthiness). All independent measures were composed of 27 variables of eight categories. A questionnaire of fj (from Japan) newsgroup's users was conducted by e-mail and responses of 150 users were valid. Regression analysis indicated that each personal impression was influenced by several important variables in categories of message quality evaluation, presentational style of message, perceived message function, and communication manner. We can see that impressions of communicator were formed from whatever meager cues are availabel in computer-mediated communication, even though nonverbal cues, relative to face-to-face interaction, are lacking.

Key words

CMC,impression formation,nonverbal cues, big five factors of personality, communicator credibility

Title

What makes people keep writing Web diaries? : Self-expression in cyberspace(<Special Issue>Social Psychology of Networking)

Author

Yasuyuki KAWAMURA (Faculty of Humanities and International Studies, Yokohama City University)
Kiyomi YAMASHITA (School of Business Administration, Senshu University)
Yoshiro KAWAKAMI (Faculty of Arts and Literature, Seijo University)

Summary

Thies research was conducted to examine the psychological implications of the people who post their diaries on the internet (i.e., Webdiaries). Web diary authors, compared with normal diary authors, are thought to feel better function of self-disclosure and interpersonal communication. Out of 1,529 surveyed subjects 377 valid responses (24.7%) were received. As a result, our hypothesis, "the higher their self-consciousness are, or the more positive feedback they received, the higher they value their diaries, increasing level of gratification and intention to continue the Web diary" was basically verified. To write a web diary is a kind of opportunity to develop communication with others. In conclusion, writing a Web diary is an act of self-recognition through communication with others.

Key words

Internet,home page, diary, self-consciousness, self-disclosure

Title

The formation process of electronic community on WWW bulletin board(<Special Issue>Social Psychology of Networking)

Author

Kazumitsu SHINOHARA (Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka University)
Asako MIURA (Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka University)

Summary

The formation process of electronic communities on WWW bulletin boards was observed for 6 months. Subjects were 106 Internet users were unacquainted with one another. They communicated freely on a WWW bulletin board. Based on time course change of the number of remarks, participants were classified into 3 groups; high-participation group, low-participation group, and early high-participation group, members of which made remarks only in the early days. Compared with the other groups, subjects in the high-paticipation group tended to more frequently use the network for sending information (e.g. making remarks on Netnews), and had higher communication skills, which formed a sub-structure of social skills. The results suggest that social skills were related to active participation in electronic communities.

Key words

electronic community, WWW bulletin board, social skill

Title

The structure of roles in family group : The analysis of two-mode three-way asymmetric data based on Socion theory

Author

Masanori ISHIMORI (Graduate Scool of Human Sciences, Osaka University)
Chikage KAIHARA (Graduate Shool of Sciology, Kansai University)
Hitoshi FUJISAWA (Preparation Room for New University, Nagasaki Prefecture Office)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to clarify structure of roles in family groups from the standpont of Socion theory. All members of 67 families were asked to answer a questionnaire on their cognition of all dyadic relationships in their family. For example, each father answered concerning his own cognition about the mother's relation to their son. Two-Mode Three-Way asymmetric data of family groups was acquired. Factor analysis results of bond-sample indicated that components of family members' interaction were the affection component, the parent-child component, and the sex-role component. Family members were categorized into father, mother, son, or daughter, based on their factor scores of three components. As for dyadic relationships, discrepancies between each family member's cognition of such relationships were examined.

Key words

socion theory, family system, role, reciprocity, complementarity

Title

The effect of the interpersonal factor on the people's selection of TV program

Author

Itaru ISHIGURO (Department of Social Psychology, Graduate Shool of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo)

Summary

Many uses and gratification studies in the mass communication research revealed that people select TV programs to meet their own needs, regardless of the senders' intention. Most of the studies, however, neglect the impact of others, which was found important in the studies of campaign effect. This study intends to examine the impact of others in terms of interpersonal environment (Ikeda, 1994, 1997) and to reconsider Komori and Ikeda (1996)'s findings. The hypothesis was: the more the number of the frequently-contact-others who watch a certain genre of TV program, the higher the tendency that the main respondent would watch the same genre of TV programs. Conducting a snowball sampling survey at one ward in Tokyo, and analyzing the data, the hypothesis was confirmed with at least three genres, dramas, sports, and "wideshow"s, which are mainly composed of gossips about stars. This implies people's selection of TV programs can be explained in terms of interpersonal factors.

Key words

selection of TV program, uses and gratifications study, interpersonal environment, snowball sampling survey