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Social Information Processing Analysis

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Theory of Social Information Processing:
A Theoretical Application
Nicholas McCann
Kennesaw State University Application of the Theory of Social Information Processing
In 1992 Joseph Walther developed the idea of social information processing which is an interpersonal communication theory that describes how individuals establish relationships with one another through a computer-mediated environment and how they can progress and manage the relationships while using an online medium or channel (Van Der Heide, & Walther, 2009). Social information processing theory can be applied to various forms of media such as computers, phones, videogames, and television. The uses of these applications have different purposes. For instance online …show more content…

Chronemics is a major variable in social processing theory, since certain mediums take slightly longer for responses than others allowing for different interpersonal affects. For example e-mails may take a couple of days waiting for one person to reply to the other, while software likes Skype immediate responses allowing a constant conversation. Once established, online personal relationships may demonstrate the same relational dimensions and qualities as face to face relationships (Walther et al, 2010). Online relationships may help facilitate relationships that would not have formed in the face-to-face world due to intergroup differences, geographic challenges, etc. (Walther et al, …show more content…

Thus, moral development is seen as a productive component of the online advancement being described in social information processing (Terzian et al, 2015). As such, aggression is also actively altered in response to feedback generated through the process of engaging in social life (Wang et al, 2009). The social information processing research on aggression have two broad issues that must be addressed the regard of how both morals and aggression play apart in interpersonal communication. The first has to do with the ways general systems or structures of social knowledge are defined (Nucci, 2004). The second has to do with the relationships between general systems of knowledge and the specific procedural knowledge, known as scripts, employed to direct specific actions in context (Nucci, 2004). Because of these issues, moral development and aggression research has slowed in its progression of understanding child

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