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Presentation of Self on Online Dating sites

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Presentation of Self on Online Dating sites Dr. Monica Whitty Queen s University Belfast m.whitty_at_qub.ac.uk Invited talk: Bath University ESRC series: 30th Janurary ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Presentation of Self on Online Dating sites


1
Presentation of Self on Online Dating sites
  • Dr. Monica Whitty
  • Queens University Belfast
  • m.whitty_at_qub.ac.uk
  • Invited talk Bath University ESRC series 30th
    Janurary 2006

2
Personal Ads
  • Reminiscent of a heterosexual stock market"
  • Favourable traits
  • Stereotypical sex role characteristics were
    valued commodities

3
Strategic advertisers
  • Offer characteristics the opposite sex will find
    appealing Whitty Carr 2006 Whitty,
    forthcoming).

4
Exchange theory
  • Individuals pursue relationships with others only
    so long as they are satisfying in terms of the
    overall rewards and costs.

5
Self-disclosure
  • I'm sometimes sick at heart from falling out
    of love with those I grew to care for enough that
    I stopped risking their health. I have a Herpes
    virus infection with yearly outbreaks. I would
    like to meet a woman who shares this difficulty

6
Plea for honesty
  • Wealthy, entrepreneurial, fun loving,
    energetic, playful, said to be handsome, single
    WM, thirtyish. Seeks cute, young, petite, single
    WF for travel-mate and all around companion. No
    B.S., no gold-diggers, sincere only need apply

7
Selective truth telling
  • e.g., individuals only advertised their weight
    when it was socially desirable.
  • e.g., single women with children tended to omit
    any mention of having children in their personal
    ads.

8
Video dating
  • Matching hypotheses
  • Gender differences

9
Finding the ideal partner
  • Presenting a realistic picture of themselves
    will, in turn, lead to finding the ideal
    partner
  • Discrepancy between their ideal partner and the
    person who is realistically interested in their
    profile.

10
Perfect match or Numbers game?
  • Copious amounts of time writing/re-writing
    profiles
  • Send many emails out hoping someone will respond

11
Gender defined lies
  • Women photos, weight
  • Men height, SES

12
Theories on self online
  • Turkle (1995) liberating space for individuals
  • Gergen (2000)self becomes saturated with too
    many identities

13
Online romantic relationships
  • Safe space to play at love (Whitty, 2003).
  • Joinson (2004) low self-esteem individuals
  • Bargh McKenna true selves
  • Cyberspace is not one generic space (Whitty,
    2003 Whitty Carr, 2006)

14
My theory
  • Experiment with identities and feel safe to flirt
  • Depth and breadth
  • A need to present an attractive but
    real/actual self (Whitty, 2004, 2006,
    forthcoming)

15
References
  • Whitty, M. T. (2003). Cyber-flirting Playing at
    love on the Internet. Theory and Psychology, 13
    (3), 339-357.
  • Whitty, M T. (2004). Shopping for Love on the
    Internet Men and Women's experiences of using an
    Australian Internet dating site. Communication
    Research in the Public Interest ICA, New
    Orleans, USA, May 27-31, 2004.
  • Whitty, M. T. Carr, A. N. (2006). Cyberspace
    romance The psychology of online relationships.
    Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Whitty, M. T. (forthcoming). The joys of
    online dating. In E. Konjin, T. Martin., S. Utz,
    A. Linden. (Eds.), Mediated Interpersonal
    Communication. Mahwah, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum
    Associates.
  • Whitty, M. T. (forthcoming). Manipulation
    of self in cyberspace. In B. H. Spitzberg, W.
    R. Cupach. (Eds.), The Dark Side of Interpersonal
    Communication (second edition). Mahwah, NJ
    Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
  • Whitty, M. T. (forthcoming). Love letters
    The development of romantic relationships
    throughout the ages. In A. N. Joinson, K. Y. A.
    McKenna, T. Postmes, and U. R. Reips. (Eds.),
    Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology. Oxford
    Oxford University Press.
  • Whitty, M. T., Baker, A. J., Inman, J. A.
    (Eds.) (in preparation). Online matchmaking.
    Palgrave Macmillan. To be published in 2006
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