Accuracy of Interpersonal Perception in Mediated Contacts in Social Media

Abstract

The paper focuses on the issue of accuracy of interpersonal perception in computer-mediated communication. It shows how J.Biesanz’s social accuracy model of interpersonal perception may be used in explorations of interpersonal perception in mediated contacts — via personal webpages in social media. In the study the subjects (15 people) were asked to assess individuals with whom they were unacquainted basing on their webpages in VKontakte (30 web pages) using a brief version of the Big Five Inventory. The outcomes reveal which objective parameters of the assessed webpages contribute most to the accuracy of interpersonal perception in the subjects, and also prove that the accuracy of interpersonal perception in this case is shaped by its normative component, not by the distinctive one. This suggests that in virtual communication one’s perception of a partner may be more affected by stereotypes than in real communication — a hypothesis that needs to be further tested. The research was conducted with the assistance of the Russian Foundation for Humanities, project 14-06-00730 “Transformations of Higher Mental Functions in the Context of Information Society Development (A Cultural-Historical Approach)”.