Michelle Alonzo Psy 409a Report 4 Getting Hold of Cyberpsychology

Report 4

Getting Hold of Cyber-Psychology

While searching through the internet on the topic of Cyber-Psychology, I realized that most of the hits that came up were from Dr. Leon James' Generational Curriculum. So, I figured, I might as well make links to the two articles that were worth while, and really had some interesting content about Cyber-Psychology.

Cyberpsychology: Principles of Creating Virtual Presence by Dr. Leon James

This article has a comprehensive overview of the topics of Cyberpsychology and includes his unique, but enlightening, perspectives about the internet and its relationship with the human mind.

The Psychology of Cyberspace by Storm A. King

This article also speaks about Cyberspace and its relationship with Psychology. It focuses on the social impact of cyberspace on society as a whole.
I think that Cyberspace is a vast and rapidly growing community, and I think that with time, it may even replace face-to-face interaction, just as the phone and television are. Technology is becoming so advanced every second of the day that it is very difficult to keep up with what is going on.

Some people make Cyberspace their life. And for these people, it is important to understand the ramifications of making a computer terminal your main companion. But, don't get me wrong! There are positives to it. But it is very important, imperative to know what you are getting yourself into once you enter the world of the internet...

What is Cyber-Psychology?

First of all, we should break the words down to figure out what each word means, before actually putting it together and figuring out what it really means. Let's take the term "cyber" first. Cyber, simple enough, means "computer." Cyberspace, therefore, means the mental environment, when people communicate in a mental environment through a computer terminal. Psychology, on the other hand is the study of the mind. So, when we put the words together as "cyber-psychology," we get a definition, in my view, that goes something like this: "The study of the relationship between the mind and the computer in a mental environment."

In Dr. Leon James' article " Cyberpsychology: Principles of Creating Virtual Presence," he discusses numerous topics, trying to give the lay reader a better understanding of the concept of Cyber- Psychology. He helps the reader to understand his point of view about cyberspace, the concepts that are important in cyberspace, and what he has done with his instructional methods to fit his classes into this vast world of cyberspace.

To me, in my own understanding of "cyber-psychology," I feel that it goes beyond one's mind and beyond one's computer. I've been involved with the "phenomenon" of the internet for almost a year now, and there has been a vast lot of information that comes with it, and I have yet to learn many more topics that are just waiting for me to explore. I know that the cyberworld will continue to grow very rapidly over the next few months, and that makes it that much more difficult to really understand how it works.

I believe that to really get the grasp of cyber-psychology, one has to stay up-to-date with all of the current developments of the internet, then try to begin to understand the connection between one's mind, or a whole community's mind once the enter the world of the computer. But for me, I think that what I understand of cyber-psychology now is that people communicate with each other through their computers. They can recreate their identities if they want to, and they may become someone that they really aren't. I really do not understand why people choose to disguise their identities, and this is one of the many things that must be studied when thinking about cyber-psychology. And in order to even begin to try to understand this concept, you have to understand what the rules are in cyberspace.

What are its Principles?

When dealing with cyber-psychology, first of all, you need to have a mind. Your mind is a vast space that is full of information, never-ending information. Then, you need a computer terminal. In that computer terminal, you need such items as a hard drive, memory, the program that allows you connection with the internet, a modem to establish the connection, and then, when all of this is gathered, you need to let your mind be open to anything that wants to enter it.

Once you get these basic instruments, you need to establish a connection with someone else on the internet, who has the same goal as you. Many people go into cyberspace for many reasons, and when you establish a connection with someone, you have taken another step toward progress in cyberspace. Your connection need not be with a physical person. You can establish a connection with just a page, where in order to communicate, you can e-mail the person by pressing the button to leave the author of the page a message. Or, you may join news groups and interact with them through news that is posted on a "virtual bulletin board." The possibilities are endless. But what's important is that you make a connection and proceed to interact.

Who would be interested in it?

In my opinion, anyone and everyone should be interested in cyberpsychology because it involves almost everyone. In an article by Storm A King entitled The Psychology of Cyberspace," he states "What was once strictly the domain of computer nerds and hackers or scientist and researchers is now increasingly occupied by middle class America." This proves just how fast the cyberspace is growing. There are pages in cyberspace about practically every topic one could think of.

One could literally go into a search engine, type a few words out, even if there are no connections between the two words, and there would probably be one page out there for that person to look at. For example, who would have thought two contradictory words, such as "virtual" and "reality" would ever be put together as one concept? Definitely not me!

Therefore, I think anyone who wants to understand this phenomenon of the internet would be interested in cyber-psychology. But I think the most interested people would be those who are actually using the computer to communicate with others, virtually, because it affects them directly. Like anyone who uses a prescription medication, they should know exactly what they are getting themselves into because, like a drug, the world of the computer can be very addicting. So, shouldn't everyone know what is going on between the computer and the mind?

What are its Directions and Topics?

First of all, what are its directions? Well, as mentioned earlier, one must have a computer terminal, the related softward, hardware and other accessories, such as the phone line, and a mind.

Now it's easy for one to think that these things are needed, and that's it. No! On the contrary. One would also need to be interested in what he or she is getting involved with or else it would be useless to enter the cyberworld. Without interest, the world of the internet will just be a "non-spectacular" event that would have had no meaning whatsoever to the person.

Also, I think that not only a mind is needed, but an open mind. The internet, or cyberspace, is filled with a variety of information that can spark the interests of different people. But, if one enters the cyberspace without an open mind, they will have missed some of the best topics that the net has to offer. Therefore, an open mind is essential.

There are many topics in cyberspace, and many topics about cyberspace in the topic of Cyber- Psychology. For example, according to Dr. James' article, he gives a list which includes: Cyberspace and Mind, Virtual Reality, Communal Mind, Forming Virtual Community, Navigation and Presence, The Virtual Book, Spirituality and Cyberspace, Acquiring Cyberspace Citizenship, hypertext space, virtual space, interactivity and organization, form of cyberspace, second law of thermodynamics, virtual traffic patterns, joint focus, virtual learning community, link functions, constructing cyberspace objects, clicking as a spiritual act, spiritual psychology, global clicking patterns, filtering mechanisms, learning to learn, perpetual novice, lifelong novicehood, technophobia, resistance to information seeking, generational curriculum, and community classroom.

These are topics that he really goes in depth with, and it's very interesting to see it in his point of view. And in reading this article, it is important to keep an open mind. And, with an open mind, one can see his point of view and say, "Gee, that does make sense!"

What is Virtual Reality?

According to Dr. James' article, he makes a comparison between cyberspace and the mind. Actually, an analogy. He states, "Cyberspace, like mind, is not in physical space, but in virtual space, without extension, distance, or mass." He further states, "Similarly, virtual reality has no physical form or mass...Virtual reality is created by interactivity -- its number, direction, and type."

I agree. It's easy for me to say, but let me expain. I think that virtuality and reality and two very different terms. In fact, they are antonyms of each other, but when you put them together, it makes sense, especially in cyberspace.

Virtuality, something that really isn't there physically, becomes reality, something that one can see, when in the world of cyberspace. Many may say, "how can this be?" Well, for people who are so engrossed in the cyber world come to see this virtuality as a reality. It is there for you to see, but you do not know exactly where it stems from. It is just a bunch of codes. But it's there.

For example, when you enter a chat room on the internet, a virtual setting is made. Once that is accomplished, people communicate as if this setting were a reality and continue to interact with each other through their keyboards. This conversation becomes almost real to the people involved with that particular interaction. It becomes a "virtual reality" setting.

What's the Relationship Between Cyberspace and the Mind?

Dr. James talks about this particular topic in his paper. He says, "In fact computers are convenient and powerful extensions of the human mind....Because of this, the form and characteristics of cyberspace are necessarilty similar to and congruent with the mind. Every characteristic of the mind can be expected to show up as a property of cyberspace."

The mind is something that helps human beings to think, to feel, and to show emotion. Cyberspace, on the same note, helps human beings to think, to feel, and to show emotion. An example would be a news article that is posted on the internet that affects all users in the cyberworld. This particular article, is not something that one can touch. But, it's something that one can think about, something one can feel very deeply about, and something that could bring one to become very emotional.

Cyberspace and the Mind can also be connected spiritually. As I said earlier, one needs an open mind to even begin to try to understand Cyber-Psychology. Well, an open mind is a very powerful tool, just as is spirituality is. Spirituality stems from the mind of a person. And this spirituality can also be used in terms of cyberspace.

One's actions, thoughts and also rituals can be formed by what is on the internet and what one gains access to on the internet. How one reacts to certain things can also be formed by what one is exposed to on the internet. Eventually, certain rituals will be performed by what is done and in what order.

Also, one's personality can be formed just by being involved in the cyberspace community. One could avoid certain things and even begin to stereotype articles just by the way they appear, and other such behaviors. That is why cyber-psychology is so important. We need to understand exactly how the internet and cyberspace are affecting the users of the internet because it is rapidly becoming the main way of communicating with others.

What is the Spiritual Significance of Clicking on a Link?

According to Dr. James' article, "The act of clicking creates virtual reality, shapes it, makes it more dense, more visible, more accessible to self and others." This is also true, to me at least. Dr. James once told us that his page was put on a "worst pages" list a while ago because of his mentioning that clicking is a spiritual act. Well, when you really think about it, it is like a spiritual act because, according to Dr. James, "Clicking acts, under the influence of interests and intentions, create communal mind in virtual reality. Similarly, in spiritual psychology, self-witnessing of one's interests and intentions, creates the opportunity for moral self-assessment, for repentance and a change of heart, for a new direction in living and becoming."

I also agree with this because I have come to realize that I do click on certain things only, and I avoid other things. And the more you see of a certain topic, the more you want to go into it and find more things about it, and see it as truth. You start to live by what you have read or seen, and want to be more like that.

When I think about the spiritual significance of clicking, it's like a religion. You do something because you feel it is right, and it is according to the rules. Spiritually for me, it would be the ten commandments. In cyberspace, you have rules also, and you must abide by them, in order to maintain use of the internet.

Also, you can choose not to click, which according to Dr. James, is also a spiritual act in itself because you are choosing not to do something for moral reasons.

Therefore, there is a lot to know about the internet, cyberspace, and cyber-psychology. But the only way to learn about it is to apply yourself and read about it, then try it out for yourself. Little by little, you will begin to notice your attitudes changing in relation to cyberspace, and you will even better understand why you do certain things you do, why you make your pages the way you do, and why you click or not click on certain pages or icons. You can learn a lot about yourself, just by learning the internet. I sure did!
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