Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
- 1 THE INTERNET IN A PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTEXT
- 2 YOUR ONLINE PERSONA: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF IMPRESSION FORMATION
- 3 ONLINE MASKS AND MASQUERADES
- 4 GROUP DYNAMICS IN CYBERSPACE
- 5 INTERGROUP CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
- 6 FLAMING AND FIGHTING: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGGRESSION ON THE NET
- 7 LIKING AND LOVING ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
- 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
- 9 THE INTERNET AS A TIME SINK
- 10 ALTRUISM ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HELPING
- 11 GENDER ISSUES ON THE NET
- 12 NURTURING LIFE ON THE INTERNET
- Index
5 - INTERGROUP CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
- 1 THE INTERNET IN A PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTEXT
- 2 YOUR ONLINE PERSONA: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF IMPRESSION FORMATION
- 3 ONLINE MASKS AND MASQUERADES
- 4 GROUP DYNAMICS IN CYBERSPACE
- 5 INTERGROUP CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
- 6 FLAMING AND FIGHTING: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGGRESSION ON THE NET
- 7 LIKING AND LOVING ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
- 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
- 9 THE INTERNET AS A TIME SINK
- 10 ALTRUISM ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HELPING
- 11 GENDER ISSUES ON THE NET
- 12 NURTURING LIFE ON THE INTERNET
- Index
Summary
I have seen Steiner's cartoon with the caption “On the Internet, they don't know you're a dog” so many times now, reprinted in Internetrelated articles and slapped onto overhead projectors at conferences, that I know he must have struck the collective trigeminal nerve. A great hope for the Internet has always been that the virtual world would at least put a dent in discrimination and prejudice. Without cues to detect race, gender, or age we would not be able to indulge in racism, sexism, or ageism. Steiner's cartoon is both meaningful and hilarious because it adds “species-ism” to the list of -isms the Internet can eradicate.
Has the Internet created the environment we dreamed of, one that would be the foundation for a global community where cohesive and satisfying groups would emerge, free of intergroup tension and prejudice? In some ways, yes, but the reality falls far short of what earlier visionaries imagined. We enter the virtual world laden with the psychological baggage of a lifetime and certainly don't abandon our suitcases in the entrance lobby. Our attachment to groups, and the attitudes we tend to hold about our fellow ingroup members, are part of this luggage. So, too, are the prejudices and negative attitudes we often develop toward outgroups – those outsiders who disagree or compete with us, or are just different.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Psychology of the Internet , pp. 88 - 109Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999