Interaction Through Technological Lenses

Abstract

In 2004, the second International Association of Language and Social Psychology Task Force focused on relationships involving language and emerging communication technology, culminating in a Special Issue of the Journal of Language and Social Psychology (Vol. 23, No. 4). The present article reviews the topics and conclusions of that work and traces the continuation of study on those topics as they have evolved and influenced language and social psychology research to the present. Communication technology research offers views on the central question of how individuals adapt language to communicative action in the presence or absence of various nonverbal cue systems. This question is reflected in topics such as the expression of affect and immediacy online, the virtual presentation of self and gender, the management of online conversations, adaptation via visual grounding in electronic collaboration, and the employment of online interaction technology to reduce intergroup prejudice. As communication systems have evolved, interfaces offer new cues and representations of users, which continue to propel inquiry into these central questions about language and its usage within various technological contexts.