Psychological Sense of Community in Groups on the Internet

Forster, Peter M.

doi:10.1375/bech.21.2.141.55421

Cited by 26 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Indeed, the results presented here demonstrate a paradox in that the sampled authors' online community is based upon the content of potentially delusional beliefs, which, technically, cannot be diagnosed as delusional if they are shared by a community to which a person belongs. It now seems clear that online communities have much in common with offl ine communities, with many of the same dynamics apparent in each, including frequent intra-group communication and strong feelings of cohesion [31,32] . This suggests that internet communities such as this one may be as much of a 'culture or subculture' as communities based on geographical location, at least in terms of core psychological features.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Mind Control’ Experiences on the Internet: Implications for the Psychiatric Diagnosis of Delusions

et al. 2006

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Background: The DSM criteria for a delusion indicate that it should not include any beliefs held by a person’s ‘culture or subculture’. The internet has many examples of people reporting ‘mind control experiences’ (MCEs) on self-published web pages, many of which suggest a community based around such beliefs and experiences. It was hypothesized that some of these reports are likely to reflect delusional beliefs and the hyperlinks between web reports were likely to show evidence of social structure, demonstrating the ‘culture or subculture’ exemption to be increasingly redundant in light of new technology. Sampling and Methods: Texts from web sites reporting MCEs (n = 10), experience of cancer (n = 10), depression (n = 10) and being stalked (n = 10) were identified, and were blind-rated by three independent psychiatrists for the presence of delusions. Hyperlinks from web sites reporting MCEs were used to create a network structure; this was compared with a size-matched, randomly generated network and known social networks from the literature using social network analysis. Conclusions: The sampled web-published accounts of MCEs are highly likely to be influenced by delusional beliefs. Social network analysis suggests there is significant evidence of an online community based around these beliefs. The fact that individuals can form a community based on the content of a potentially delusional belief presents a paradox for the DSM diagnostic criteria for a delusion, and suggests the need to revise and revisit the original operational definition in the light of these new technological developments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Mind Control’ Experiences on the Internet: Implications for the Psychiatric Diagnosis of Delusions

et al. 2006

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“…[1][2][3][4] SOVC is defined as members' feelings of membership, identity, belonging, and attachment to a group that interacts primarily through electronic communication. SOVC assesses the "communityness" of virtual communities; it distinguishes virtual communities from other types of virtual groups.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most researchers currently adapt the most current measure of SOC, the sense of community index (SCI), 6 to virtual groups. 2,4 This practice creates a problem because the SCI may not have sufficient content validity as a measure of SOVC. That is, there may be items in the SCI that do not have relevance in virtual communities, and the SCI may be missing parts of the SOVC construct domain.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Sense of Virtual Community Measure

Blanchard

2007

CyberPsychology & Behavior

193

145

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Sense of virtual community is an important feature of virtual communities. This study develops a sense of virtual community (SOVC) measure, building off the strengths of a widely used measure of sense of community (SOC) for face-to-face communities. Although there is overlap between the senses of community for face-to-face and virtual communities, there are significant differences. The new SOVC measure is compared to the SOC measure on 265 members of seven online groups, explaining at least 7% more of the variance from exchanging support and member identification. This study represents an important step in developing a valid measure of SOCV.

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“…Integration, fulfilment and an emotional connection are further common characteristics attributed to SOC. The growth of technology means we become less bound to geographically fixed spaces and this also compels us to communicate virtually, thus allowing us to select our own communities [18]. Further research has tested the characteristics of SOC in the virtual community (SOVC) but this has proven challenging [19].…”

Section: Relationships and Community Onlinementioning

confidence: 99%