No abstract

Previous studies indicate that characteristics of social-based technologies (STs) stimulate the sharing of intimate information online, which in turn enhances the quality of friendships. In addition, intimate online self-disclosure has been positively associated with offline self-disclosure. One objective of the current study was to combine the literature and test a model which postulates that STs use stimulates online self-disclosure which facilitates offline self-disclosure and, thereby, enhances the quality of close friendships. A second objective of this study was to examine if the aforementioned model applies to two categories of STs, including socially interactive technologies (SITs; e.g., instant messaging) and socially passive technologies (SPTs; e.g., reading posts on social networking sites). An online survey was conducted with 212 young adults between 18 and 25 years of age. The proposed indirect positive effects of SITs and SPTs use on the quality of friendships were supported. The positive effect of SITs use on the quality of friendships was explained entirely by the young adults' disclosure of personal information when using SITs which facilitated intimate self-disclosure during face-to-face interactions. Although there was not a direct effect of SPTs use on the quality of friendships, SPTs use was positively related to SPTs self-disclosure, which had a positive effect on offline self-disclosure. The current study enhances our understanding regarding the positive effects associated with the use of STs among close friends and identifies the contribution of online self-disclosure for offline interactions.

Computer-mediated communication has become ubiquitous in the lives of today's youth. The current review synthesizes recent findings regarding adolescents' and young adults' online interactive self-disclosure, with a particular emphasis on the direct antecedents and effects. Three broad categories of predictors are discussed, including demographic information and internal states, dispositional factors, as well as contextual factors. In addition, the synthesis of studies exploring consequences of online interactive self-disclosure indicates positive outcomes for social-related constructs. The article concludes with recommendations for future research, including the analysis of actual computer-mediated exchanges and longitudinal research that takes into account the dynamic process of self-disclosure over time and across media.

This study assessed the quality of social interactions that occur in group-based computer learning contexts. Gender comparisons of interactions were examined across 3 sessions with 116 preschoolers (M age=4.9 years) and 108 fifth and sixth-grade (M age=11.7 years) Canadian children from southwestern Ontario, when children had access to one computer per child (parallel computer) or one computer per group (integrated computer), and when they worked with same-gender or mixed-gender peers. Preschoolers engaged in more collaborative behaviors in mixed-gender than same-gender groups, while elementary children engaged in collaborative behaviors more often in integrated than parallel computer conditions. In mixedgender groups, boys were more likely than girls to dominate the computer in elementary school while girls were more likely than boys to dominate the computer in preschool.

The expertise of adults in recognising the identity of individual faces has been attributed to their exquisite sensitivity to differences among faces in the spacing of features (second-order relations). However, the reliability of individual differences and the extent to which this sensitivity predicts individuals' ability to recognise faces has not been tested directly. We administered two sets of tasks to adult females (n = 31); the tests were separated by 2 to 11 days. Individual differences in sensitivity to the spacing of facial features were reliable across days and correlated with individual differences in sensitivity to the spacing of features (doors and windows) in houses, but did not predict accuracy when participants matched facial identity across changes in point of view. Individual differences in sensitivity to featural cues to facial identity were not reliable, likely because of ceiling effects. The function and specificity of sensitivity to the spacing of features is discussed.