Social Information Processing (theory) - CMC Vs Face-to-Face

CMC Vs Face-to-Face

Social Information Processing Theory (SIP) endorses online communication. SIP proposes that despite the inherent lack of cues found in the nonverbal communication of online interactions, there are many other ways for people to create and process personal, or individualized, information. Walther believes relationships grow only to the extent that parties first gain information about each other and use that information to form interpersonal impressions of who they are. With these impressions in mind, the interacting parties draw closer if the two parties both like the others images being presented. Walther acknowledges that nonverbal cues are filtered out of the interpersonal information that we send and receive through CMC. Unlike cues filtered out, he doesn’t think this loss is necessarily fatal to the development of the relationship. This is called Impression formation- the composite mental image one person forms of another.

Walther argues nonverbal cues (such as those seen here) can be exchanged for verbal cues in CMC to build intimacy over time.

Several aspects - such as replaced cues, asynchronous communication, insightful interaction, desire for impression management and maintained partner affinity - are all in support of social information processing as a comparable, if not improved, alternative of face-to-face communication (see hyperpersonal model). Similar to face-to-face interactions, people motivated in online interactions with others also wish to "reduce interpersonal uncertainty, form impressions, and develop affinity." Walther argues verbal cues can be replaced with nonverbal cues over CMC and has published experimental support for this claim. Here, affection expressed verbally online was compared to verbal synchronous offline communication and found to be equivalent across settings. Walther also found that, proportionately, CMC partners ask more questions and disclose more about themselves than do their face-to-face counterparts. In this way, CMC may actually improve or assist FtF interactions.