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Joseph Walther

Nanyang Technological University, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Faculty Member

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I am a professor of Communication Research. My research focuses on social and interpersonal dynamics of computer-mediated communication, in groups, personal relationships, organizational and educational settings, which has involved media such as chat, computer conferencing, and social network sites. I developed the social information processing theory of CMC, the hyperpersonal model, and (with Mac Parks) warranting theory.
Supervisors: Judee K. Burgoon
Phone: (65) 6790-4577
Address: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Nanyang Technological University
31 Nanyang Link
Singapore 637718

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Manal Yazbak Abu Ahmad

Talpiot

Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee

Constructor University Bremen gGmbH

Ana-Maria Bliuc

University of Dundee

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Papers by Joseph Walther

The Effect of Feedback on Identity Shift in Computer-Mediated Communication

by Erin Spottswood, Joseph Walther, Jake Liang, and David Deandrea

Media …, Jan 1, 2011

Human Communication Research ISSN 0360-3989 Person-Centered Emotional Support and Gender Attributions in Computer-Mediated Communication

by Erin Spottswood and Joseph Walther

HPC helpers over LPC helpers. Unexpectedly, men preferred HPC messages from male and gender-ambig... more

Computer-Mediated Communication and the Reduction of Prejudice: A Controlled Longitudinal Field Experiment Among Jews and Arabs in Israel

The promise of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to reduce intergroup prejudice has generated... more The promise of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to reduce intergroup prejudice has generated mixed results. Theories of CMC yield alternative and mutually exclusive explanations about mechanisms by which CMC fosters relationships online with potential to ameliorate prejudice. This research tests contact-hypothesis predictions and two CMC theories on multicultural, virtual groups who communicated during a yearlong online course focusing on educational technology. Groups included students from the three major Israeli education sectors—religious Jews, secular Jews, and Muslims—who completed pretest and posttest prejudice measures. Two sets of control subjects who did not participate in virtual groups provided comparative data. An interaction effect of the virtual groups experience by religious/cultural membership affected prejudice toward different religious/cultural target groups, by reducing prejudice toward the respective outgroups for whom the greatest initial enmity existed. Comparisons of participants to control subjects further support the influence of the virtual group experience. Correlations between prejudice with group identification and interpersonal measures differentiate the underlying theoretical processes.

Nonverbal expectancy violations and conversational involvement

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 1989

A central feature of nonverbal expectancy violations theory is that unexpected behaviors trigger ... more A central feature of nonverbal expectancy violations theory is that unexpected behaviors trigger a cognitive-affective appraisal of such behavior, leading to a valencing of the behavior(s) as positive or negative. It has been proposed that communicator reward mediates the interpretation and evaluation of such violations but may be more important when the violative act is ambiguous in meaning than when it is not. Unclear is whether nonverbal behavioral composites introduce greater or less equivocality of interpretation. Two experiments employing multi-cue conversational involvement violations addressed this issue. In the first, dyads (N=51) engaged in a 10-minute baseline interview, after which participants rated each other on several measures of reward valence. One randomly selected member then served as a confederate interviewee during a second interview and either significantly increased or decreased involvement. In the second experiment, reward was manipulated as physical attractiveness, status, and task expertise. Dyads (N = 60) engaged in prolonged problem-solving discussions during which the confederates either committed an involvement violation or not. In both experiments, the involvement changes were sufficiently unexpected, arousing, and distracting to qualify as violations of expectations. Analysis of message interpretations indicated that (1) relative to normal involvement levels, increased nonverbal involvement was interpreted as most immediate/affectionate, receptive, similar, dominant, and composed, and decreased involvement as least so, and (2) reward mediated only the interpretation of formality. High involvement violations in turn produced greater attraction, credibility, and persuasiveness than low involvement violations for high as well as low-reward communicators, as predicted.

Selective self-presentation in computer-mediated communication: Hyperpersonal dimensions of technology, language, and cognition

Computers in Human Behavior, 2007

The hyperpersonal model of computer-mediated communication (CMC) posits that users exploit the te... more The hyperpersonal model of computer-mediated communication (CMC) posits that users exploit the technological aspects of CMC in order to enhance the messages they construct to manage impressions and facilitate desired relationships. This research examined how CMC users managed message composing time, editing behaviors, personal language, sentence complexity, and relational tone in their initial messages to different presumed targets, and the cognitive awareness related to these processes. Effects on several of these processes and outcomes were obtained in response to different targets, partially supporting the hyperpersonal perspective of CMC, with unanticipated gender and status interaction effects suggesting behavioral compensation through CMC, or overcompensation when addressing presumably undesirable partners.

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Photographic Images in Long-Term and Short-Term Computer-Mediated Communication

Communication Research, 2001

In an era of postmodern and social constructionist thought, qualitative researchers have experien... more In an era of postmodern and social constructionist thought, qualitative researchers have experienced method as a mess. This time of conflict and tension has contributed to concerns and questions about researchers' interpretive and reflexive contributions to the study of social reality. Into these confusing times, Mats Alvesson and Dan Kärreman, social constructionist researchers, take a novel approach to how qualitative research can inform theory development. They suggest researchers embrace the mysteries when trying to make sense of social situations by taking a reflective and interpretive approach towards their empirical material to create results that can challenge established theory and thus inspire novel lines of theory development.

Validation and Application of Electronic Propinquity Theory to Computer-Mediated Communication in Groups

Communication Research, 2008

Page 1. http://crx.sagepub.com/ Communication Research http://crx.sagepub.com/ content/35/5/622 T... more

Misattribution in Virtual Groups: The Effects of Member Distribution on Self-Serving Bias and Partner Blame

Human Communication Research, 2007

Interest in virtual groups has focused on attribution biases due to the collocation or distributi... more Interest in virtual groups has focused on attribution biases due to the collocation or distribution of partners. No previous research examines self-attributions in virtual groups, yet self-attributions-the acknowledgment of personal responsibility or its deflectionpotentially determines learning and improvement. This study reviews research on attributions in virtual groups and the effects of distance on members' proclivity to blame others or themselves. An experiment involved groups whose members were geographically collocated, distributed, or mixed, working over 2 weeks exclusively using asynchronous computer-mediated communication. Attributions for participants' own poor performance reflected a self-serving bias in completely distributed groups, whose members eschewed personal responsibility and blamed their partners more than in collocated groups. Mixed groups' results help distinguish among competing theoretical perspectives. Moreover, an externally imposed observational goal mitigated attributional bias among distributed members by raising awareness of the sociotechnical effects of communication medium among those for whom the goal was successfully induced.

Information-Seeking Strategies Uncertainty and Computer-Mediated Communication

incorporating them into a conceptual model. Finally, 2 promising approaches for examining the eff... more

Anticipated Ongoing Interaction Versus Channel Effects on Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction

Human Communication Research, 1994

Previous research on the interpersonal tone of computer-mediated communication shows different ef... more Previous research on the interpersonal tone of computer-mediated communication shows different effects using longitudinal computer-mediated groups than are found in research using one-shot groups, even before the developmental aspects associated with time can accrue. One factor distinguishing these approaches is the anticipation of future interaction experienced by longitudinal groups. This research reports an experiment assessing the relative effects of anticipated future interaction and different communication media (computer-mediated versus face-to-face communication) on the communication of relational intimacy and composure. Asynchronous and synchronous computer conferencing and face-to-face groups were examined. Results show that the assignment of long-term versus short-term partnerships has a larger impact on anticipated future interaction reported by computer-mediated, rather than face-to-face, partners. Evidence also shows that anticipation is a more potent predictor of several relational communication dimensions than is communication condition. Implications for theory and practice are identified.

Asynchronous Videoconferencing: A Hybrid Communication Prototype

This report introduces a hybrid asynchronous, distributed audio/video group conferencing system. ... more This report introduces a hybrid asynchronous, distributed audio/video group conferencing system. One of the chief benefits of Internet communication systems is that they allow communicators to write messages when they need to, and read messages when they can. Researchers, developers, and lay citizens are increasingly familiar with one of the benefits of e-mail and online text conferencing systems: the ability to use asynchronous, store-and-forward and retrieve-ondemand technologies for communication. However, most theories of interactive technologies suggest that users would achieve more accurate interpersonal perceptions and more effective and efficient work transactions if all visual and auditory non-verbal cues were available via desktop communication systems. Synchronous multimedia communication technologies achieve this, but forego the benefits of store-andforward and retrieve-on-demand. The technological barrier has been in wedding asynchronous communication to the storage, indexing, and retrieval of sound and video.

Interpersonal Effects in Computer-Mediated Interaction: A Relational Perspective

Communication Research, 1992

... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated i... more

The Effect of Feedback on Identity Shift in Computer-Mediated Communication

by Erin Spottswood, Joseph Walther, Jake Liang, and David Deandrea

Media …, Jan 1, 2011

Human Communication Research ISSN 0360-3989 Person-Centered Emotional Support and Gender Attributions in Computer-Mediated Communication

by Erin Spottswood and Joseph Walther

HPC helpers over LPC helpers. Unexpectedly, men preferred HPC messages from male and gender-ambig... more

Computer-Mediated Communication and the Reduction of Prejudice: A Controlled Longitudinal Field Experiment Among Jews and Arabs in Israel

The promise of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to reduce intergroup prejudice has generated... more The promise of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to reduce intergroup prejudice has generated mixed results. Theories of CMC yield alternative and mutually exclusive explanations about mechanisms by which CMC fosters relationships online with potential to ameliorate prejudice. This research tests contact-hypothesis predictions and two CMC theories on multicultural, virtual groups who communicated during a yearlong online course focusing on educational technology. Groups included students from the three major Israeli education sectors—religious Jews, secular Jews, and Muslims—who completed pretest and posttest prejudice measures. Two sets of control subjects who did not participate in virtual groups provided comparative data. An interaction effect of the virtual groups experience by religious/cultural membership affected prejudice toward different religious/cultural target groups, by reducing prejudice toward the respective outgroups for whom the greatest initial enmity existed. Comparisons of participants to control subjects further support the influence of the virtual group experience. Correlations between prejudice with group identification and interpersonal measures differentiate the underlying theoretical processes.

Nonverbal expectancy violations and conversational involvement

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 1989

A central feature of nonverbal expectancy violations theory is that unexpected behaviors trigger ... more A central feature of nonverbal expectancy violations theory is that unexpected behaviors trigger a cognitive-affective appraisal of such behavior, leading to a valencing of the behavior(s) as positive or negative. It has been proposed that communicator reward mediates the interpretation and evaluation of such violations but may be more important when the violative act is ambiguous in meaning than when it is not. Unclear is whether nonverbal behavioral composites introduce greater or less equivocality of interpretation. Two experiments employing multi-cue conversational involvement violations addressed this issue. In the first, dyads (N=51) engaged in a 10-minute baseline interview, after which participants rated each other on several measures of reward valence. One randomly selected member then served as a confederate interviewee during a second interview and either significantly increased or decreased involvement. In the second experiment, reward was manipulated as physical attractiveness, status, and task expertise. Dyads (N = 60) engaged in prolonged problem-solving discussions during which the confederates either committed an involvement violation or not. In both experiments, the involvement changes were sufficiently unexpected, arousing, and distracting to qualify as violations of expectations. Analysis of message interpretations indicated that (1) relative to normal involvement levels, increased nonverbal involvement was interpreted as most immediate/affectionate, receptive, similar, dominant, and composed, and decreased involvement as least so, and (2) reward mediated only the interpretation of formality. High involvement violations in turn produced greater attraction, credibility, and persuasiveness than low involvement violations for high as well as low-reward communicators, as predicted.

Selective self-presentation in computer-mediated communication: Hyperpersonal dimensions of technology, language, and cognition

Computers in Human Behavior, 2007

The hyperpersonal model of computer-mediated communication (CMC) posits that users exploit the te... more The hyperpersonal model of computer-mediated communication (CMC) posits that users exploit the technological aspects of CMC in order to enhance the messages they construct to manage impressions and facilitate desired relationships. This research examined how CMC users managed message composing time, editing behaviors, personal language, sentence complexity, and relational tone in their initial messages to different presumed targets, and the cognitive awareness related to these processes. Effects on several of these processes and outcomes were obtained in response to different targets, partially supporting the hyperpersonal perspective of CMC, with unanticipated gender and status interaction effects suggesting behavioral compensation through CMC, or overcompensation when addressing presumably undesirable partners.

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Photographic Images in Long-Term and Short-Term Computer-Mediated Communication

Communication Research, 2001

In an era of postmodern and social constructionist thought, qualitative researchers have experien... more In an era of postmodern and social constructionist thought, qualitative researchers have experienced method as a mess. This time of conflict and tension has contributed to concerns and questions about researchers' interpretive and reflexive contributions to the study of social reality. Into these confusing times, Mats Alvesson and Dan Kärreman, social constructionist researchers, take a novel approach to how qualitative research can inform theory development. They suggest researchers embrace the mysteries when trying to make sense of social situations by taking a reflective and interpretive approach towards their empirical material to create results that can challenge established theory and thus inspire novel lines of theory development.

Validation and Application of Electronic Propinquity Theory to Computer-Mediated Communication in Groups

Communication Research, 2008

Page 1. http://crx.sagepub.com/ Communication Research http://crx.sagepub.com/ content/35/5/622 T... more

Misattribution in Virtual Groups: The Effects of Member Distribution on Self-Serving Bias and Partner Blame

Human Communication Research, 2007

Interest in virtual groups has focused on attribution biases due to the collocation or distributi... more Interest in virtual groups has focused on attribution biases due to the collocation or distribution of partners. No previous research examines self-attributions in virtual groups, yet self-attributions-the acknowledgment of personal responsibility or its deflectionpotentially determines learning and improvement. This study reviews research on attributions in virtual groups and the effects of distance on members' proclivity to blame others or themselves. An experiment involved groups whose members were geographically collocated, distributed, or mixed, working over 2 weeks exclusively using asynchronous computer-mediated communication. Attributions for participants' own poor performance reflected a self-serving bias in completely distributed groups, whose members eschewed personal responsibility and blamed their partners more than in collocated groups. Mixed groups' results help distinguish among competing theoretical perspectives. Moreover, an externally imposed observational goal mitigated attributional bias among distributed members by raising awareness of the sociotechnical effects of communication medium among those for whom the goal was successfully induced.

Information-Seeking Strategies Uncertainty and Computer-Mediated Communication

incorporating them into a conceptual model. Finally, 2 promising approaches for examining the eff... more

Anticipated Ongoing Interaction Versus Channel Effects on Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction

Human Communication Research, 1994

Previous research on the interpersonal tone of computer-mediated communication shows different ef... more Previous research on the interpersonal tone of computer-mediated communication shows different effects using longitudinal computer-mediated groups than are found in research using one-shot groups, even before the developmental aspects associated with time can accrue. One factor distinguishing these approaches is the anticipation of future interaction experienced by longitudinal groups. This research reports an experiment assessing the relative effects of anticipated future interaction and different communication media (computer-mediated versus face-to-face communication) on the communication of relational intimacy and composure. Asynchronous and synchronous computer conferencing and face-to-face groups were examined. Results show that the assignment of long-term versus short-term partnerships has a larger impact on anticipated future interaction reported by computer-mediated, rather than face-to-face, partners. Evidence also shows that anticipation is a more potent predictor of several relational communication dimensions than is communication condition. Implications for theory and practice are identified.

Asynchronous Videoconferencing: A Hybrid Communication Prototype

This report introduces a hybrid asynchronous, distributed audio/video group conferencing system. ... more This report introduces a hybrid asynchronous, distributed audio/video group conferencing system. One of the chief benefits of Internet communication systems is that they allow communicators to write messages when they need to, and read messages when they can. Researchers, developers, and lay citizens are increasingly familiar with one of the benefits of e-mail and online text conferencing systems: the ability to use asynchronous, store-and-forward and retrieve-ondemand technologies for communication. However, most theories of interactive technologies suggest that users would achieve more accurate interpersonal perceptions and more effective and efficient work transactions if all visual and auditory non-verbal cues were available via desktop communication systems. Synchronous multimedia communication technologies achieve this, but forego the benefits of store-andforward and retrieve-on-demand. The technological barrier has been in wedding asynchronous communication to the storage, indexing, and retrieval of sound and video.

Interpersonal Effects in Computer-Mediated Interaction: A Relational Perspective

Communication Research, 1992

... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated i... more