Social Information Processing Theory: Summary

Joseph Walther proposed the Social Information Processing Theory or SIP which wholly focuses on CMC or computer-mediated communication. CMC is communication that is not face-to-face. Furthermore, CMC is text based communication.

Contrary to what other theories propose, SIP suggests that CMC produces the same results as face-to-face communication; that even though nonverbal cues and other factors in communication are taken out, still effective communication can be maintained. Walther likened this to drinking. Even if you gulp directly from the bottle (face-to-face communication) or sip through a straw (CMC), the end result would stay the same. Whether you use one technique or the other, you will still empty the water.

How is this possible? This is possible if you satisfy two factors, namely Verbal cues and Extended time.

Verbal Cues

As we all know, successful communication is not determined by spoken words only. There are also other factors such as nonverbal cues that help the listener determine the purpose of the communicator. However, in CMC, nonverbal cues are factored out therefore, other theories suggest that communication cannot be complete and therefore is not successful.

However, experiments have shown that this is not so. Even though nonverbal cues are filtered out, they are successfully replaced by verbal cues. Therefore, the whole message is still relayed successfully.

Extended Time

If you compare a 2 minute face-to-face communication and a 2 minute CMC, face-to-face communication would fare far better than CMC. This is because, messages in CMC take longer to send than face-to-face communication. Technically, to have the same result, it would take CMC 4 times more than the time it would take forface-to-face communication. Therefore, extended time is essential in CMC for communication to be successful.

Hyperpersonal Perspective

CMC can produce relationships that are more intimate than if they met through face-to-face communication. Walther calls this thehyperpersonal perspective.

These are produced because of some factors unique in CMC.

Sender: Selective Self-Presentation

Because CMC does not involve to people physically seeing each other, then one can pretend. One can just disclose his appealing side but choose not to disclose his dark side. This can be misleading to the person one is communicating to and cause him to view one as a person that he technically is not in real life.

Receiver: Overattribution of Similarity

Because one can pretend to be someone else he is not, this sends a different picture of him to the person he is communicating with. One can also pretend to like this and like that, do this and do that-all for the purpose of presenting oneself as a good person though on the contrary, he really does not like to do this or that, so on and so forth. Walther says that the absence of NV cues does not prevent us from coming to a conclusion. On the contrary, it causes us to overattribute the little information that we have and create an image of the sender from that. However I stress that due to the lack of information, the created image most probably would not be like the true image of the sender.

Channel: Communicating on Your Own Time

Relationships need time so that it would develop. One of the causes of a breakup is because one doesn't have enough time for the other. This is not present in CMC. In CMC, you can communicate at your own time because you only send messages. You do not need to meet up so that you can talk. The stress caused by the need to coordinated time is eliminated therefore, it is easier to be intimate with each other.

So ends my summary of CMC.