Forming on-Line Impressions: A Class Exercise

Abstract

In an exercise designed to assess the accuracy of the impressions we form of people in online settings, students in a Psychology of the Internet course were asked to interact with two people in two different Internet settings. First, students were asked to interact with “Tom” (a college student) in an asynchronous discussion board setting over the period of one week. They were instructed to “try to get to know him” and form an impression of him. Likewise, students were asked to interact with “Dr. Smith” (a mathematics professor) in a synchronous chat room setting for a period of 30 minutes. Students were asked to describe physical appearance, gender, age, personality, political orientation, and likeability for both Tom and Dr. Smith. Students then met Tom and Dr. Smith in person. Students were shocked to learn Dr. Smith was female and Tom was a quadriplegic. The exercise was a powerful illustration of the issues involved in online impression formation. Pseudo-names are used throughout the article.