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Perceiving Groups During Computer-Mediated Communication

Advances in Group Processes

ISBN: 978-1-78743-193-5, eISBN: 978-1-78743-192-8

Publication date: 12 August 2017

Abstract

Purpose

A long-standing question is how group perception, which is the perception of a whole group, becomes an exaggerated perception of the individuals who comprise the group. The question receives scant attention within computer-mediated communication (CMC), which is increasingly a communication mode for groups and a research tool to study groups. I address this gap by examining bias in group perception when rating copresence, which is the sense of being together, with the group.

Methodology/approach

I model bias as occurring when perceivers differentially weigh ratings of individual group members on a variable while rating the whole group on the same variable. I analyzed how the degree of bias in participants’ ratings of copresence with a status-differentiated group varied by the availability of visual cues during CMC in an experiment. I also examined how the group’s status hierarchy impacted bias.

Findings

Bias increase as the availability of visual cues decreased and ratings of middle status members were weighed more in group perception than ratings of other members.

Research limitations

Middle status was based on possessing inconsistent statuses. Inconsistency, and not status position, may have rendered these members more salient than others.

Social implications

Interventions that target group perception may benefit from targeting the group’s middle status members. Researchers and practitioners can minimize bias in group perception through increasing the availability of visual cues in CMC.

Originality/value

The findings illustrate the underpinnings of copresence with an entire group. This is important because copresence shapes several group processes during CMC.

Keywords

Citation

Campos-Castillo, C. (2017), "Perceiving Groups During Computer-Mediated Communication", Advances in Group Processes (Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 199-217. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0882-614520170000034009

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited