Different Personality Types in Internet
Psychology of internet Usage People
Personality Types in Cyberspace
There was a people who are living in cyberspace are totally
different from the people who are living in the ordinary world.
The basic psychological features of online environments shape
how people and groups behave in those realms. But that's only half the story.
Online behavior will always be determined by how those features interact with
the characteristics of the people in those environments. A variety of systems
might be useful in classifying those characteristics. We might focus on
specific features of the user, such as the person's computer skills, goals for
using the internet, or demographic characteristics (age, social-economic status,
occupation, etc). There also are several comprehensive theoretical systems in
psychology that could help us examine how various personality types behave in
cyberspace - for example, the Myers-Briggs system or Guilford's personality
model.
In this Article I've described cyberspace as a psychological
extension of the individual's intrapsychic world. It is a psychological space
that can stimulate the processes of projection, acting out, and transference -
that can alter sensory experience and can even create a dream-like state of
mind. A theory that specializes in understanding the intrapsychic world and the
various dimensions of consciousness would be especially useful in understanding
this "person" side of the person/environment interaction.
Psychoanalytic theory fits that bill very well. It contains a
very rich, comprehensive model of personality types resulting from 100 years of
research and clinical practice. Nancy McWilliams' book Psychoanalytic Diagnosis
(Guilford Press, 1994) is an excellent resource that summarizes and integrates
the various psychoanalytic concepts about major personality types. For each of
these types, McWilliams explores the characteristic affects, temperment,
developmental organization, defenses, adaptive processes, object relations, and
transference/countertransference phenomena. The personality styles discussed
are:
1.
psychopathic (antisocial)
2.
narcissistic
3. schizoid
4. paranoid
5.
depressive and manic (impulsive)
6.
masochistic (self-defeating)
7.
obsessive and compulsive
8.
hysterical (histrionic)
9.
dissociative
One highly productive area of research would be to explore
how these personality types behave online, how they subjectively experience and
react to the various psychological features of cyberspace, how they shape the
online experience for others, and the pathological as well as potentially
salutary aspects of their online activities. Clinical research also suggests
that there are distinct cognitive styles - patterns of thinking and perceiving
- associated with the different types, which might explain why different people
choose one type of online activity but not others. Some interesting questions
to explore might include the following:
1. Does
online anonmity and freedom of access encourage antisocial personalities? Are
they some of the hackers of cyberspace?
2. Do
narcissistic people use the access to a numerous relationships as a means to
gain an admiring audience.
3. Do people with dissociative
personalities tend to isolate their cyberspace life from their f2f lives. Do
they tend to engage in the creation of multiple and distinct online identities?
4. Are
schizoid people attracted to the reduced intimacy resulting from online
anonymity. Are they lurkers?
5. Do manic
people take advantage of asynchronous communication as a means to send measured
responses to others, or do they naturally prefer the terse, immediate, and
spontaneous conversations of chat and IM?
6. Are compulsives generally drawn
to computers & cyberspace for the control it gives them over their relationships
and environment.
7. Do histrionic people enjoy the
opportunities for theatrical displays that are possible in online groups,
especially in environments that provide software tools for creative
self-expresssion?
Another type that frequents online discussion groups is the
"oppositional personality" - sometimes referred to as the
"passive aggressive" or "yes but" personality. With a
strong predilection towards disagreeing with people, their messages in email
and discussion board groups often begin and are peppered throughout with words
like "but" and "however." A more subtle oppositional
message may start off with "well" or the namesake "yes
but."
Psychodynamic theory proposes that these people struggle with
underlying feelings of hostility that can only be expressed passively or
indirectly, via the act of disagreeing. They also may need to oppose others as
a way to firm up their somewhat fragile identity or to boost self-esteem by
proving themselves right and others mistaken. People with oppositional
tendencies may be drawn to the intellectually contentious atmosphere of online
discussion groups. That atmosphere, combined with the difficulties in
establishing one's presence in a somewhat chaotic environment that lacks the
identity-grounding cues of face-to-face contact, may also amplify oppositional
tendencies.
Elements of the oppositional individual and some of the other
personality types are evident in jokes about the "Newsgroup
Personality" - which probably represents a humorous composite of all the
problematic features of these personality types.
Implicit in much of what I've written in this article is that
people choose the online environments or online communication strategies that
are compatible with their personality style. But do people simply slip into
online interactions that feel comfortable to their intrinsic nature and
cognitive style? Do some of them simply act out the underlying needs and
emotions that determine who they are? It's also possible that some people
choose online environments and communication tools that help them stretch
beyond their usual style, that enable them to expand and enrich the ways they
think, feel, and express themselves.
Image source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/206992
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