Alex Dooley

COMM 221 Research Project Annotated Bibliography

Dr. Lynn Cooper
Jiang, L. C., Bazarova, N. N., & Hancock, J. T. (January 01, 2011). The Disclosure-Intimacy Link
in Computer-Mediated Communication: An Attributional Extension of the Hyperpersonal Model.
Human Communication Research, 37, 1, 58-77.
In any relationship, the first step to intimacy is self-disclosure. However, self-disclosure itself
is not enough to create intimacy in a relationship; it is necessary for the receiver of initial
self-disclosure to determine where to attribute the reason for this self-disclosure. This will
impact how far the act of self-disclosure goes in creating intimacy, and there are at least
three ways to categorize self-disclosure: Dispositional (because of the senders personality),
Situational (because of the environment in which the information was disclosed, the sender
would have told anybody the same thing), and, the most intimate classification,
Interpersonal (specifically told to the receiver because of a special relationship possessed
between the sender and receiver). Interpersonal attributions are more likely to be received
as intimacy-building instances of self-disclosure, and due to the sometimes unclear nature
and intent of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), the person on the receiving end of
messages is often left to figure out for themselves the intent and purpose of any act of selfdisclosure on the senders part. For this reason, textually-based cues are often
misinterpreted to be more than they are, fostering an intimacy that would not have existed if
the same interaction had taken place face-to-face and creating a bond that can only be
strengthened through more mediated communication rather than face-to-face interaction.
Joris H. Janssen, Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn, Joyce H.D.M. Westerink (January 01 2014). How
Affective Technologies can Influence Intimate Interactions and Improve Social Connectedness.
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 72, 1, 33-43
Affective technology is defined as currently theoretical technology that may exist in the
future for the purpose of automatically conveying emotion through some form of
technological means. In order to test the potential efficacy of such technology, Janssen and
IJsselsteijn utilize emoticons as a kind of stand-in for affective technology, pairing two
people up and allowing them to send emotions back and forth in various settings and
circumstances. The results of the experiment indicate that, while affective technology has
the capacity to one day improve surface-level happiness and satisfaction with our mediated
interpersonal interactions, automated displays of forms of affection such as these are taken
to be less sincere than those generated by a human being.
Ledbetter, A., Mazer, J., DeGroot, J., Meyer, K., Yuping, M., & Swafford, B. (January 01, 2011).
Attitudes Toward Online Social Connection and Self-Disclosure as Predictors of Facebook
Communication and Relational Closeness. Communication Research, 38, 1, 27-53.
The extent to which relationships are fostered and developed online, specifically on
Facebook, can serve as a predictor for how much those relationships will be developed
offline. Online Self-Disclosure, Online Social Connections, and offline communication are all
linked. The mindset with which people go into their online relationships can predict the
mindset they possess about their relationships outside of the internet and vice versa, thus a

persons online self-disclosure and online social connections can serve as a predictor for
what their offline communication habits and friendships are like.
Sheeks, M. S., & Birchmeier, Z. P. (January 01, 2007). Shyness, sociability, and the use of
computer-mediated communication in relationship development. Cyberpsychology & Behavior :
the Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society, 10, 1, 64-70.
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) enhances relationships, particularly among
those who report high levels of both shyness and sociability. CMC allows those who utilize it
to divulge information about themselves more easily and interact more freely than they are
able to in Face-to-Face interactions. Because of the social barriers removed by CMC,
people with less desirable physical characteristics (balding, obesity, deformations, etc.) often
find a valuable social outlet through CMC and utilize it with great benefit.
Tidwell, L. C., & Walther, J. B. (July 01, 2002). Computer-Mediated Communication Effects on
Disclosure, Impressions, and Interpersonal Evaluations: Getting to Know One Another a Bit at a
Time. Human Communication Research, 28, 3, 317-348.
Besides affording humans the opportunity to feel more readily at ease to self-disclose,
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) allows those participating in it to speed the
process of uncertainty reduction due to the textual nature of CMC. Recipients of messages
are left to interpret the voice and intent of the sender and thus project their own expectations
and ideals into the conversation in a way not possible during Face-to-Face Communication.
In this way, the seeming limitations of CMC actually serve not to the detriment of building
rapport and trust in relationships, but to their benefit. Simultaneously, the rapidity of rapport
and trust building in these relationships has the potential to be the result of the receiver
misinterpreting messages given by the sender.
Walther, J. B., & Ramirez, A. (2010). New Technologies and New Directions in Online Relating
(pp. 271-277). In Smith, S. W., & Wilson, S. R. (Eds.) New directions in interpersonal
communication research. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), particularly textual-based CMC continues to be
a popular, desirable mode of communicating among high school and college students in
particular. CMC allows its users to feel more in control of the way others perceive them due
to the editing capacities of CMC, and continues to be seen as a safer option than
communicating face-to-face. Mixed-mode relationships encourage the user to idealize their
partner during the CMC phase of the relationship and subconsciously inject their own
interpretation of messages into the conversation, leading to disappointment when they
discover the person with whom the have been conversing online does not live up to their
ideal.