Adam Joinson

Last updated

Adam N. Joinson
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Occupation(s)Author, Public Speaker in Cyberpsychology
Employer University of Bath
Website www.joinson.com

Adam N. Joinson (born 1970) is a British author, academic and public speaker within the area of cyberpsychology. He is Professor of Information Systems at University of Bath, following posts at the University of West of England and the Open University. [1] and has conducted ground breaking research into the psychology of Internet usage. [2]

Contents

Education and career

Joinson studied for his undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of London, Goldsmiths College in 1991. He then went to the University of Hertfordshire to obtain his PhD in Social Psychology in 1996. [3]

He has written a number of books, journal articles and proceedings that discuss major themes of psychology such as Social Penetration Theory, Cognitive Dissonance and Expectancy violations theory. The titles of these books include "Understanding the Psychology of Internet Behaviour". [4] He has also edited "The Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology". [4] He is a Programme Director of research on 'Understanding and Countering Online Behaviour' at the Centre for Research on Security Threats. [5]

Areas of Research

Joinson's research interests are focused on the interactions between people and technology. In particular, the nature of communication via technology, and the ways in which system design influences communication. [6]

Findings

In 2000, Joinson and his team of scientists carried out a groundbreaking study which looked into the psychological consequences of e-mail communication. He asked 100 pairs of students (who did not know each other) to resolve a dilemma, either face-to-face or via e-mail. When presenting the team's findings at the British Psychological Society's London conference, Joinson stated that the participants "disclosed over four times as much when they communicated over the Internet as when they talked face-to-face". The study concluded that "e-mailing strips away inhibitions because it changes the rues of normal communications". However, with the addition of web cams to the study, the number of disclosures dropped immediately. This suggested that the use of e-mail gives a sense of "distance, anonymity and privacy". [2]

In 2007, a project led by Joinson, Privacy and Self-Disclosure Online discovered that users who had previously demonstrated a high level of caution regarding online privacy would accept losses to their privacy if they trusted the recipient of their personal information. Out of all the participants studied, 56 per cent of Internet users stated that they had concerns about privacy when they were online. Joinson concluded the project by stating "one of the most interesting aspects of our findings, is that even people who genuinely have a high level of concern regarding privacy online may act in a way that is contrary to their stated attitudes when they come across a particular set of conditions". [7]

In an interview with Interattivo in 2008, Joinson stated the findings of a study into the social networking site of Facebook and how the general public used it. His study included: "...two parts. In the first, 137 users were asked what they used Facebook for, what they most enjoyed about using the site, and what uses were most important to them. These responses were then clustered by trained raters. Selected answers from each cluster were then turned into a questionnaire that 241 people completed, and statistical techniques used to identify activities that occurred together.......A number of surprising findings emerged. First, the amount of time people spend on the site is predicted not by their number of friends, but by the amount they interact with the applications within Facebook. In fact, spending time interacting with applications was associated with having fewer friends on Facebook. Second, the majority of the respondents had changed their privacy settings, but some had made themselves more open, which was motivated by a desire to meet new people – so they made themselves 'discoverable'. Third, the frequency of visits to the site was motivated by an interest in photographs and in other people's news (via their 'status' updates)". [8]

In 2010, Joinson spoke with The Daily Telegraph about his belief that social media may have negative effects on privacy and intimacy levels between people. He stated "as new technology and social media encourage sharing of the small details of everyday life, it also reduces privacy in social relationships, and may have negative effects on intimacy levels between people. If you desire intimacy, it may well be disastrous to add your partner to Facebook, or to follow them on Twitter". [9]

Media Interviews

In 2002, a survey conducted by search engine AltaVista found that 80% of men claimed to be better surfers than their female partners. Joinson, asked by the BBC, suggested the findings bear out traditional gender stereotypes. He stated "as information has become such a valuable commodity, it's not surprising that men have transferred their traditional hunter-gatherer role to hunting for information on the web". Joinson however suggests that he would be "surprised if men's self-perceived superiority is grounded in fact". [10]

Bibliography

Joinson has published over 60 journal articles, and has released three books: [11]

Papers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Privacy</span> Seclusion from unwanted attention

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively.

An internet relationship is a relationship between people who have met online, and in many cases know each other only via the Internet. Online relationships are similar in many ways to pen pal relationships. This relationship can be romantic, platonic, or even based on business affairs. An internet relationship is generally sustained for a certain amount of time before being titled a relationship, just as in-person relationships. The major difference here is that an internet relationship is sustained via computer or online service, and the individuals in the relationship may or may not ever meet each other in person. Otherwise, the term is quite broad and can include relationships based upon text, video, audio, or even virtual character. This relationship can be between people in different regions, different countries, different sides of the world, or even people who reside in the same area but do not communicate in person.

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated formats, it has also been applied to other forms of text-based interaction such as text messaging. Research on CMC focuses largely on the social effects of different computer-supported communication technologies. Many recent studies involve Internet-based social networking supported by social software.

Internet identity (IID), also online identity, online personality, online persona or internet persona, is a social identity that an Internet user establishes in online communities and websites. It may also be an actively constructed presentation of oneself. Although some people choose to use their real names online, some Internet users prefer to be anonymous, identifying themselves by means of pseudonyms, which reveal varying amounts of personally identifiable information. An online identity may even be determined by a user's relationship to a certain social group they are a part of online. Some can be deceptive about their identity.

Cyberpsychology is a scientific inter-disciplinary domain that focuses on the psychological phenomena which emerge as a result of the human interaction with digital technology, particularly the Internet.

Self-disclosure is a process of communication by which one person reveals information about themselves to another. The information can be descriptive or evaluative, and can include thoughts, feelings, aspirations, goals, failures, successes, fears, and dreams, as well as one's likes, dislikes, and favorites.

An anonymous post, is an entry on a textboard, anonymous bulletin board system, or other discussion forums like Internet forum, without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym. Some online forums such as Slashdot do not allow such posts, requiring users to be registered either under their real name or utilizing a pseudonym. Others like JuicyCampus, AutoAdmit, 2channel, and other Futaba-based imageboards thrive on anonymity. Users of 4chan, in particular, interact in an anonymous and ephemeral environment that facilitates rapid generation of new trends.

The social penetration theory (SPT) proposes that as relationships develop, interpersonal communication moves from relatively shallow, non-intimate levels to deeper, more intimate ones. The theory was formulated by psychologists Irwin Altman of the University of Utah and Dalmas Taylor of the University of Delaware in 1973 to understand relationship development between individuals. Altman and Taylor noted that relationships "involve different levels of intimacy of exchange or degree of social penetration". SPT is known as an objective theory as opposed to an interpretive theory, meaning it is based on data drawn from actual experiments and not simply from conclusions based on individuals' specific experiences.

The online disinhibition effect refers to the lack of restraint one feels when communicating online in comparison to communicating in-person. People tend to feel safer saying things online that they would not say in real life because they have the ability to remain completely anonymous and invisible when on particular websites, and as a result, free from potential consequences. Apart from anonymity, other factors such as asynchronous communication, empathy deficit, or individual personality and cultural factors also contribute to online disinhibition. The manifestations of such an effect could be in both positive and negative directions; thus, online disinhibition could be classified as either benign disinhibition or toxic disinhibition.

A web-based experiment or Internet-based experiment is an experiment that is conducted over the Internet. In such experiments, the Internet is either "a medium through which to target larger and more diverse samples with reduced administrative and financial costs" or "a field of social science research in its own right." Psychology and Internet studies are probably the disciplines that have used these experiments most widely, although a range of other disciplines including political science and economics also use web-based experiments. Within psychology most web-based experiments are conducted in the areas of cognitive psychology and social psychology. This form of experimental setup has become increasingly popular because researchers can cheaply collect large amounts of data from a wider range of locations and people. A web-based experiment is a type of online research method. Web based experiments have become significantly more widespread since the COVID-19 pandemic, as researchers have been unable to conduct lab-based experiments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet addiction disorder</span> Excessive internet usage that causes psychological disorders

Internet addiction "disorder" (IAD), also known as problematic internet use or pathological internet use, is a problematic compulsive use of the internet, particularly on social media, that impairs an individual's function over a prolonged period of time. Young people are at particular risk of developing internet addiction disorder, with case studies highlighting students whose academic performance declines as they spend more time online. Some experience health consequences from loss of sleep as they stay up to continue scrolling, chatting, and gaming.

The hyperpersonal model is a model of interpersonal communication that suggests computer-mediated communication (CMC) can become hyperpersonal because it "exceeds [face-to-face] interaction", thus affording message senders a host of communicative advantages over traditional face-to-face (FtF) interaction. The hyperpersonal model demonstrates how individuals communicate uniquely, while representing themselves to others, how others interpret them, and how the interactions create a reciprocal spiral of FtF communication. Compared to ordinary FtF situations, a hyperpersonal message sender has a greater ability to strategically develop and edit self-presentation, enabling a selective and optimized presentation of one's self to others.

Online participation is used to describe the interaction between users and online communities on the web. Online communities often involve members to provide content to the website or contribute in some way. Examples of such include wikis, blogs, online multiplayer games, and other types of social platforms. Online participation is currently a heavily researched field. It provides insight into fields such as web design, online marketing, crowdsourcing, and many areas of psychology. Some subcategories that fall under online participation are: commitment to online communities, coordination and interaction, and member recruitment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gender differences in social network service use</span> Differences between genders with regard to use of social media and social network service

Men and women use social network services (SNSs) differently and with different frequencies. In general, several researchers have found that women tend to use SNSs more than men and for different and more social purposes.

Communication privacy management (CPM), originally known as communication boundary management, is a systematic research theory developed by Sandra Petronio in 1991. CPM theory aims to develop an evidence-based understanding of the way people make decisions about revealing and concealing private information. It suggests that individuals maintain and coordinate privacy boundaries with various communication partners depending on the perceived benefits and costs of information disclosure. Petronio believes disclosing private information will strengthen one's connections with others, and that we can better understand the rules for disclosure in relationships through negotiating privacy boundaries.

Technoself studies, commonly referred to as TSS, is an emerging, interdisciplinary domain of scholarly research dealing with human identity in a technological society focusing on the changing nature of relationships between the human and technology. The self is a key concept of TSS. The term "technoself", advanced by Rocci Luppicini (2013) aims to avoid ideological or philosophical biases inherent in other related terms including cyborg, posthuman, transhuman, techno-human, beman, digital identity, avatar, and homotechnicus- though Luppicini acknowledges that these categories "capture important aspects of human identity". Technoself is further elaborated and explored in Luppicini's "Handbook of Research on Technoself: Identity in a Technological Environment".

Privacy settings are "the part of a social networking website, internet browser, piece of software, etc. that allows you to control who sees information about you". With the growing prevalence of social networking services, opportunities for privacy exposures also grow. Privacy settings allow a person to control what information is shared on these platforms.

The advent of social networking services has led to many issues spanning from misinformation and disinformation to privacy concerns related to public and private personal data.

The seriousness check is a technique that can be used in online research to improve data quality. Nowadays, many scientific studies with human participants are conducted online and are accessible to a large diversity of participants. Nonetheless, many people just want to look at the different pages of the questionnaire, instead of giving carefully chosen answers to the questions. The seriousness check addresses this problem: In this approach the respondents are asked about the seriousness of their participation or for a probability estimate that they will complete the entire study or experiment. Thus, by using the seriousness check irrelevant data entries can be easily identified and be excluded from the data analysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Vitak</span> American information scientist

Jessica Vitak is an American information scientist who is an associate professor at the University of Maryland. She is faculty in the University of Maryland College of Information Studies (iSchool) and Communication Department. She serves as Director of the University of Maryland Human–Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) and an Associate Member of the Social Data Science Center (SoDa).

References

  1. 1 2 University of Bath. "Adam Joinson discusses social networking websites on BBC World Service". University of Bath. Retrieved 15 March 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 Matt Haig (2001). E-mail essentials: how to make the most of e-communication. Kogan Page Publishers. pp. 14–15. ISBN   978-0-7494-3576-9.
  3. ↑ Jayne Gackenbach (2007). Psychology and the internet: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal implications. Academic Press. p. 4. ISBN   978-0-12-369425-6.
  4. 1 2 Library Thing. "Adam N. Joinson". librarything.com. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats. "People". Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "University of Bath – School of Management – About – Dr Adam Joinson". University of Bath. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "Internet users give up privacy to trustworthy recipients – Economic Times". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "WHAT DO PEOPLE DO WITH FACEBOOK? Interview with Adam N. Joinson (Univ. Bath) – Interattivo". Interattivo. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  9. ↑ "Facebook and Twitter users 'undermine their right to privacy' – Telegraph". The Telegraph. 7 January 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  10. ↑ "Sexism 'rife' in cyberspace". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  11. ↑ Adam Joinson; Katelyn McKenna; Tom Postmes; Ulf-Dietrich Reips (2009). Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-956180-3.
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