"FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT CYBER-PSYCHOLOGY"

What's Cyber-psychology?
What are its principles?
Who would be interested in it?
What are its directions and topics?
Who are the people interested in it?
What is virtual reality?
What's the relation between Cyberspace and the mind?
What is the spiritual significance of clicking on a link?

What is Cyber-psychology?

Wow, this is a hard question to answer. I need to break the words down so you can understand what Cyber-psychology means. Once you understand each word, you'll understand what Cyber-psychology deals with. Okay, Cyber is the Internet system or the World Wide Web that you're basically using right now. Psychology is the term that most people are a little on edge to understand what Psychology is doing on the Internet or World Wide Web.

Actually, Psychology deals with a lot of what drives, motivates, and catches your attention to what you are looking, seeing, and feeling when you visit or view a site on the Internet or World Wide Web. In a nut shell, Cyber-psychology deals with what actually makes you who you are on the Internet. For example, what motivates you to view, experience, and visualize what you are getting from the Web.

Cyber-psychology also deals with the ability and knowledge to create your own Virtual Reality in Cyberspace. The ability to access something does deal with Cyber-psychology believe it or not. It's interesting to know that to access something in Cyberspace, deals with your motivation, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and visualization.

Is Cyber-psychology catching your attention yet? Well, Cyber-psychology goes deeper than that. There's so much that I can go into about what Cyber-Psychology is and what it's about. For instance, dissociation, self-disclosure, your online Personality, and more. The following links may help you in understanding Cyber-psychology more specifically.

[Cyberspace as Psychological Space]
[Human Becomes Electric: The Basic Psychological Features of Cyberspace]
[Cyberspace as Dream World (Illusion and Reality at the "Palace") ]
[Cyberpsychology: Principles of Creating Virtual Presence]

What are its Principles?

Cyberspace principles deal with the mind (consciously or subconsciously), identity, and spirituality on the Internet. You need the conscious mind to motivate and drive you into doing what are want to do on the Internet. The Sub-conscious mind is needed to create an atmosphere within your mind as to what you want to experience and visualize from the Internet.

Links that may help you understanding more about the conscious and subconscious mind in Cyberspace.
Dr. John Suler, Ph.D. at Rider University. Cyberspace as Dream World; section on Cyberspace as an Alternative to Dreaming.

Dr. James paragraph on Cyberspace and Mind. A reference if you want to learn more about the mind in Cyberspace.

Your identity on the Internet is how you want people to understand, view, and know you for you when they visit your site or when you visit other people's sites on the Internet. There are people who use the Internet under assumed identities. They do that to keep themselves anonymously from other people. Some take on assumed identities to hide their true selves or because they want to experience what it's like to be an opposite gender on the Internet. It's like experiencing dual identities; for example, perhaps a female in real life (or should I say, life outside of Cyberspace) but her identity in Cyberspace is a male.

Dr. John Suler at Rider University has a better explanation of Identity on the Internet. Article is Cyberspace as Dream World (Illusion and Reality at the "Palace"); section under Identity Shifting (Dissociation).

Spirituality to me stems from your actions and visualizations of what you want to see, view, experience, and witness as you journey through Cyberspace/World Wide Web/Internet. Spirituality also involves your emotions, feelings, and thoughts as you travel around the Internet. It involves you as a whole person, not taking aspects of yourself and trying to put you together to understand you better. It's more like who you are as you travel the Internet from place to place. For example, do you like to wait for a place to upload or download for more than 1 minute or so, what do you like to see in a site, what grabs your attention to a site, and more.

This describes you for you and what you do and do not like in a particular place that you visit. The person you are visiting won't know who you are and what you liked or disliked at their site, unless you email them to tell how you feel about their site. Your spirituality on the computer helps to understand you as a Cyberspace Being, not as a Human Being outside of the Cyberspace world.

For instance, my spirituality on the Internet is a little weird. I don't like to wait for a site to upload or download for more than 15 seconds when my schedule is busy and full of things to do. I would just terminate the search and go on or just quit Netscape all together. But yet, when I'm bored I'll wait as long as it takes for a site to upload or download. Don't laugh but, I now enjoy problems that I come across and take/make the time to figure out a solution. Once I have a solution, I usually would email my classmates and notify them of my problem and the solution I figured out.

Who Would Be Interested In It?

Who would be interested in Cyber-psychology? Wow, I would have to say that I would think that everyone would be interested in this. Gee, to understand the mind and the actions of the mind in Cyberspace is showing an understanding of what motivates and drives us to view, visualize, and experience things that are on the Web. A lot of people I talked to about this course are interested in what Cyber-psychology is and what are it's importance on the Web.

The importance of Cyber-psychology on the Web is quite difficult to explain, it's very complex. However, I think and feel that Cyber-psychology on the Web is to understand what makes people addicted and attracted to the Web itself. I also think that the person makes the difference as to how the sites are viewed and understood. For example, if you are irritated, tired, mad, grumpy, frustrated, and/or annoyed off something, everything you see and view on the Web may make you more irritated and annoyed. If you don't know what you are looking for when you look around the Web Sites you may not find anything and think that the Web or the place you visited is useless, disorganized, and doesn't make sense.

What are its Directions and Topics?

What are the Cyber-psychology directions and topics? The directions that Cyber-psychology is currently in is a step in the right direction. To understand what Cyber-psychology means and what it involves is very important in understanding what's involved on the Internet, the experiences and situations that occur on the Internet, and how they can experience and view their online personalities. I also think that creating a virtual reality and virtual presence of one's self on the Internet is important in understanding where they are within the Cyberspace Community.

For example, my virtual reality and presence is within the Generational Curriculum at the University of Hawaii's 3rd Generation of Traffic Psychology. Not to mention in the 4a Generational Cirriculum of Cyber-psychology class all which is located within Dr. James address. You can also get to my site at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/~cohta/ either put 409 or 459 / and the file name you wish to view. Be warned, I'm the only one who has my site setup like this.

The topics covered in Cyber-psychology is so wide and informative. Some of the topics covered are the acts of clicking, online presence, Cyberspace and the mind, Virtual Reality, Technophobia, Cyberspace Community, relationships on the Internet, status on the Internet, Identity Shifting (Dissociation), and more.

The most informative site of Cyber-psychology versus the real world is Dr. Suler's site on Cyberspace as Dream World. Here's another one of Dr. Suler's site, "Human Becomes Electric: The Basic Psychological Features of Cyberspace." This site contains six basic topics of Cyberspace that shapes the Psychological experiences on the Internet.

Who are the People Interested in it?

Who are the people interested in Cyber-psychology? I think people who have any kind of background and/or interest in Psychology is interested with Psychology being online. I also think that as computer technology increases and expands, the more aware people will be about Psychology and the intentions of Psychology because Psychologist and Psychology Majors are trying to maintain the importance of Psychology inside and outside of the computer technological world.

I hope that by providing Psychological information and resources available on the Internet, will provide people with the understandings, knowledge, and interest of Psychology through the use of computers. I also hope that people will understand the importance of Psychology and what Psychology deals with when it comes to people on the Internet and as well as dealing with people in the Physical world.

What is Virtual Reality

What is Virtual Reality? Virtual Reality only exist in the computer world (Cyberspace) and NOT in the Real World (Physical world). For everyone, virtual reality is different because like dreams (Suler), you create the atmosphere, settings, and visualizations of what you want and wish to view. For example, by creating a Homepage or Site to your liking, you're providing and welcoming people and yourself into your own virtual reality. By visiting other people's sites and having an opinion about their site and by writing or criticizing them, you're inputting our own Virtual Reality upon them. However, I would like to say one thing, if you criticize someone about their site, you better understand that maybe you don't understand what that persons virtual reality is like. Meaning, everyone's preference differs from yours. In fact, I recommend that you take that into consideration whenever you visit and view a site.

You see, you can create and shape (mode) your own virtual reality in a far more spectacular and imaginative creation as compared to the limited limitations of the physical world. Therefore, you can create a dream world while you're on the Internet or World Wide Web. Why or How? By creating an ideal Homepage for yourself, you can create your own atmosphere and surrounding without anyone hurting your feelings because you created it without having to think or image it being restricted to anyone's expectations and ideas of how a Homepage should be. In fact, I recommend that you create a separate Homepage to your liking so you can experience the freedom and luxury of creating your own Virtual Reality. For example, I was told that my homepage for Cyber-psychology was disorganized and hard to understand so I created my own separate homepage where I would go all out to represent myself of my own Virtual Reality on the Internet. To create a place where I would be happy and satisfied of what I created and made.

What's the Relation Between Cyberspace and the Mind?

What is Cyberspace and the mind? The relationship between Cyberspace and the mind is a dual process. You can not create or visualize what your virtual reality is, unless you use your mind, creativity, artistic ability, imagination, and spirituality to create an atmosphere that you will be happy and satisfied when you visit your site. To enjoy other people's sites, always have in mind that the person is a human being and their likes and dislikes differ from yours. PLEASE DON'T EVER JUDGE PEOPLE FROM THE WAY THEIR SITE IS, it's like judging people by their looks. If a site to you is dissatisfying tell them how they can improve it.

Cyberspace and the mind is created to the use of the computer. The computer provides people with the technology to visualize other people's thoughts, feelings, emotions, creativity, imagination, artistic ability, and spirituality in a way that you wouldn't ascertain from them as you just passed them by on the street or plane. Computers are giving the people a chance to view and visit people from all over the world.

Through this class and the use of making and creating a Homepage and files through the Internet, has given me the chance to become knowledgeable and creative in a way that I never thought I would. For example, the computer has given me the chance to be creative and imaginative in a way that I can produce it and view it like the rest of you can see it and understand it. I have meet people who are very knowledgeable and experienced with computer that have made me realize that the computer isn't what I feared, it was the phobia of failing to produce my creative and artistic side of myself for people to visualize and experience.

It takes people with the common interest to make Cyberspace a comfortable and sociable place to relax, visit, socialize, and interact with people in Cyberspace. It takes people with experience to make Cyberspace a comfortable and sociable place to gain self-esteem on the Internet. Without the help of experienced computer technological people to help guide me, I wouldn't be where I am today.

What is the spiritual significance of clicking on a link?

What is the spiritual significance of clicking on a link? According to Dr. James, "Interests and intentions define and reveal mind or spirit." Therefore to me, the spiritual act of clicking creates an atmosphere of links and/or clicks that you visited. If you were to look back at all the sites that you visited, you will realize and witness what you liked and didn't like. Meaning that the clicks/links create your virtual reality on the Internet and gives you the ability it visualize, feel, and connect with yourself, being mentally or spiritually. The significance of knowing your spiritual on the Internet gives you the ability to visualize and experience what your intentions and motivations were during the time that you spent searching on the Internet.

If you don't click on a link, it means that the link may not look interesting; therefore, you're not motivated to click on it. This shows that you're spirituality on the Internet is determined by what didn't attract you to that link. Believe or not, you have witness you're conscious and/or subconscious mind into the world of Cyberspace. This creates and makes you visualize your virtual reality and spirituality on the Internet system. Congratulation's, you just entered the world of understanding Cyber-psychology!


[MY PERSONAL HOMEPAGE]
[MY CYBER-PSYCHOLOGY HOMEPAGE]
[DOCUMENTS THAT MAY HELP YOU IN UNDERSTANDING CYBER-PSYCHOLOGY]
[GETTING A HOLD ON CYBER-PSYCHOLOGY]
[WANT TO E-MAIL ME?]
[Dr. James Homepage Location for Cyber and Traffic Psychology]