Computer Mediated Communication In Personal Relationships

Lynne M. Webb (Ph. D., University of Oregon) is Professor in Communication at the University of Arkansas. She previously served as a tenured faculty member at the Universities of Florida and Memphis. Her research examines young adults' interpersonal communication in romantic and family contexts. Her research appears in over 50 essays published in scholarly journals and edited volumes, including computers in Human Behavior, Communication Education, Health Communication, and Journal of Family Communication. --Book Jacket.

Relational maintenance provides a rallying point for those seeking to discover the behaviors that individuals utilize to sustain their personal relationships. Theoretical models, research programs, and specific studies have examined how people in a variety of close relationships choose to define and maintain those relationships. In addition, relational maintenance turns our attention to communicative processes that help people sustain their close relationships. In this collection, editors Daniel J. Canary and Marianne Dainton focus on the communicative processes critical to the maintenance and enhancement of personal relationships. The volume considers variations in maintaining different types of personal relationships; structural constraints on relationship maintenance; and cultural variations in relational maintenance. Contributions to the volume cover a broad range of relational types, including romantic relationships, family relationships, long-distance relationships, workplace relationships, and Gay and Lesbian relationships, among others. Maintaining Relationships Through Communication: Relational, Contextual, and Cultural Variations synthesizes current research in relationship maintenance, emphasizes the ways that behaviors vary in their maintenance functions across relational contexts, discusses alternative explanations for maintaining relationships, and presents avenues for future research. As such, it is intended for students and scholars studying interpersonal communication and personal relationships.

The Handbook of the Psychology of Communication Technology offers an unparalleled source for seminal and cutting-edge research on the psychological aspects of communicating with and via emergent media technologies, with leading scholars providing insights that advance our knowledge on human-technology interactions. • A uniquely focused review of extensive research on technology and digital media from a psychological perspective • Authoritative chapters by leading scholars studying psychological aspects of communication technologies • Covers all forms of media from Smartphones to Robotics, from Social Media to Virtual Reality • Explores the psychology behind our use and abuse of modern communication technologies • New theories and empirical findings about ways in which our lives are transformed by digital media

This book offers a balanced, evidence-based account of the role of mobile and social media in personal relationships.

Mediated interpersonal communication is one of the most dynamic areas in communication studies, reflecting how individuals utilize technology more and more often in their personal interactions. Organizations also rely increasingly on mediated interaction for their communications. Responding to this evolution in communication, this collection explores how existing and new personal communication technologies facilitate and change interpersonal interactions. Chapters offer in-depth examinations of mediated interpersonal communication in various contexts and applications. Contributions come from well-known scholars based around the world, reflecting the strong international interest and work in the area.

The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication examines the multifunctional ways in which seemingly productive communication can be destructive—and vice versa—and explores the many ways in which dysfunctional interpersonal communication operates across a variety of personal relationship contexts. This second edition of Brian Spitzberg and William Cupach’s classic volume presents new chapters and topics, along with updates of several chapters in the earlier edition, all in the context of surveying the scholarly landscape for new and important avenues of investigation. Offering much new content, this volume features internationally renowned scholars addressing such compelling topics as uncertainty and secrecy in relationships; the role of negotiating self in cyberspace; criticism and complaints; teasing and bullying; infidelity and relational transgressions; revenge; and adolescent physical aggression toward parents. The chapters are organized thematically and offer a range of perspectives from both junior scholars and seasoned academics. By posing questions at the micro and macro levels, The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication draws closer to a perspective in which the darker sides and brighter sides of human experience are better integrated in theory and research. Appropriate for scholars, practitioners, and students in communication, social psychology, sociology, counseling, conflict, personal relationships, and related areas, this book is also useful as a text in graduate courses on interpersonal communication, ethics, and other special topics.

The present study offers an exploration into computer-mediated communication, relationship emergence, and satisfaction. The internet has grown into a global network connecting between 30 and 40 million people in 1996 (Parks & Floyd, 1996), and reportedly up to one billion (Walther, 1996) as we enter the new millennium. Aside from its sheer size, this new social milieu commands scholarly attention because it is a way in which messages come from a wide variety of participants with little or no centralized control (Rafaeli & LaRose, 1993). Moreover, it is evident that although contradictory to the current theories of relationship emergence, personal relationships are definitely forming via computer-mediated communication.