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Abstract

This research-paper has been divided into three sections. The first analyzes the emergence of cyberspace as a counter culture, emphasizing distinctive backgrounds. The second analyzes how cyberpsychology is a brand new name in the phase of increasing its visibility within the domain of applied psychology. The third pays attention to six different strategies used by applied psychologists when they deal with Internet and multimedia databases and hyperdocuments.

Outline

Cyberspace: A Technocultural Realm
Cyberpsychology: An Increasingly Grounded Brand Name
Cyberpsychology: Six Perspectives as Operational Tools

1. Cyberspace: A Technocultural Realm

There is a hidden nexus between the basic unit of electric current, known as the ampere, and ‘‘cyber,’’ a multifaceted root present in a large variety of domains within the umbrella of new information and communication technologies (NICT). The term ampere expresses homage to Andre´ Marie Ampe` re (1775–1836), a French physicist, mathematician, and philosopher. He coined the term cybernetics in 1834 for a prospective new science devoted to the overseeing and control of governments. In classic Greek, ku e n ´ ! means to lead or to pilot, and so the derived noun, ku e nZ iko´ z means the pilot. Nobert Wiener (1894–1964) recaptured the word cybernetics in 1948 as a title for his book on ‘‘the science of control and communication in the animal and the machine.’’ Later, in 1950, he emphasized that cybernetics should ultimately be regarded as a matter of ‘‘the human use of human beings,’’ highlighting the nexus between learning and feedback as both technological and cultural frameworks in the functioning of control and governing systems.

During the 1950s and 1960s, cybernetics became a widely accepted label for studying (1) the processing of information and communication systems, (2) the flow of information within a system, and (3) the use of feedback to get intended impacts on goal-directed activities cropping up in technological artifacts as well as in living organisms and organizational settings. Soon cybernetics lent its name and the new root ‘‘cyber’’ started to circulate, becoming used by computer-literate university graduates in a large variety of disciplines.

In 1970, Alvin Toffler coined the term ‘‘cyborgs’’ in his book Future Shock, which devoted several pages to analyzing the possibilities of human–machine integration and the interaction of human brains and databases through networked communication. Initially, a cyborg was described as a fusion of machine and organism, animate and inanimate at the same time. Mechanical or electronic devices built into the body allowed its physiological functioning to extend some abilities beyond normal or to compensate for some disabilities. Psychological expertise was demanded during the design process to optimize performance levels or to smooth training processes and after the surgical implant of devices to facilitate the psychological adjustment of ongoing interactions.

During the 1980s, the conception of cyborgs transformed classical dichotomies into mythic hybrids by blurring binary pairs such as man/machine, male/female, white/black, and homosexual/heterosexual. At first glance, it was a change of focus: cyborgs started to be created for pleasure. Fine artists and graphic designers crossed the line of gender representations and pushed their art into the awareness of the sexual impact of cyberbodies. So, cyborgs became sexy, and a diversified fauna of new-age chimeras emerged. ‘‘A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a creature of science fiction and a creature of social reality,’’ highlighted Haraway (1991) in her seminal essay ‘‘Cyborg Manifesto’’ published in 1985. From a psychological perspective, these utopian cyberbodies induced morbid fascination and were ready for scrutiny as the latest taste in projective techniques. A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a creature of science fiction and a creature of social reality.

The term ‘‘cyberpunk’’ started to be used as an argot among writers in counter-cultural circles in the mid-1970s, for example, by John Brunner in his novel Shockwave Rider and by William Gibson in several science fiction stories collected in Neuromancer. Soon, some creative writers began to call themselves ‘‘cyberpunks,’’ stressing that they used computers and video games as a means of self-expression, personal pleasure, net profit, and out of a sense of duty. In fact, they ascribed the roles of main or secondary characters to ‘‘first-generation cyborgs,’’ that is, micro-surgically reworked characters, showing a disembodied intelligence, bringing to the fore an anarchist cultural background melting away into a high-tech mood and open-minded attitude. In cyberpunk stories, the narrative usually took place in postindustrial and information-governed settings populated by urban misfits, dead reconstructions of people previously alive or artificially smart beings ready to think for themselves and question authority. Cyberpunks were often depicted as skillful people with expertise in knowing how to take advantage of NICT to attain goals that were often malevolent.

During the 1980s, fiction writers realized that they had developed a set of beliefs about the existence of some kind of actual space behind the screen, ‘‘a place that you cannot see but you know is there.’’ This world of lucid dreaming beyond a television or a computer screen came to be known as cyberspace, an imaginary and fictional universe in which sensory experiences take place, the mind is absorbed, and the person feels as one with the set of stimuli, challenges, and performances elicited. It generates a trancelike experience, actual and genuine, known as ‘‘consensual hallucination,’’ the assertion coined by cyberpunk writers. Cyberspace was a place where individuals were welcome if they knew how to stroll along boundless passageways, entering and exiting large intellectual creations made available online. It was a ‘‘World III’’ structure in the terminology launched by Sir Karl Popper (1902–1994).

Cybersex was a term introduced during the 1990s to identify the existence of sensual and hedonistic waterways irrigating the digital underground of cyberspace. It is the domain of a large variety of incorporeal intercourses, sometimes known as ‘‘robocopulation’’ or ‘‘onanism for two,’’ that make the most of computer-generated hyperrealism as well as mind-to-mind networked but yet dreamed scenarios. As Dery put it, ‘‘sex with machines, together with dalliances conducted in virtual worlds, seems a seductive alternative in an age of AIDS, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases’’ (1996, p. 199). It is a kind of online sex play, X-rated and interactive computer programs adapted for the stage by similarly equipped participants recurring to an array of sensor effectors ready to generate a realistic sense of tactile presence.

Bell and Kennedy and Spiller have compiled large sets of difficult-to-find articles on cyber-cultural challenges and dilemmas, published over several decades during the second half of the 20th century, that otherwise would be rather inaccessible.

2. Cyberpsychology: An Increasingly Grounded Brand Name

The term cyberpsychology started to circulate in cyberspace in 1994 when Prof. Leon James at the University of Hawaii wrote a pioneering paper, ‘‘Cyberpsychology: Principles of Creating Virtual Presence,’’ which was expanded over a decade and made available online. As a result, some post-modern views on psychology and Jungian connotations were launched: an ineffable continuity of an online communal mind exists and grows in cyberspace as a self-ruling collective unconscious. The existence of a critical mass in interactions and transactions ‘‘in any topical zone and the type of ongoing activity’’ suggest the emergence of a communal mind in the Internet. ‘‘Topics and activities in cyberspace create their own virtual zones that become accessible to others across time and space’’ and give the impression of omnipresence in such a communal mind. The overlap between cyberspace and the mind was asserted under the umbrella of cognitive psychology. Computers were appraised as ‘‘convenient and powerful extensions of the human mind’’ and the consequence was that ‘‘every characteristic of the mind can be expected to show up as a property of the cyberspace.’’ The basic argument justified a new denomination such as cyberpsychology based on the certitude that ‘‘cyberspace, like mind, is not in physical space, but in virtual space, without extension, distance, or mass.’’

In 1994, Jose´ M. Prieto at the University of Madrid set up the homepage of the International Association of Applied Psychology (http://www.iaapsy.org), which included the online proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Applied Psychology. Nielsen, the leading expert in usability challenges, advances, and dilemmas in the production of multimedia and hypertext documents, mentioned this initiative as an illustration of navigating large information spaces. Soon afterward, Prieto began to focus on cyberspace as a setting where psychological teaching, learning, and research programs may take place and where spatial orientation and time management skills play a very significant role in online performance. The initial focus was outlined in the paper ‘‘Psychology and Telematics’’ (a new term derived from the combination of ‘‘tele’’ and ‘‘informatics’’), and the next step was the interface between literacy in NICT and the involvement of work and organizational psychologists in knowledge management programs. In 1997, it became an e-learning space nicknamed prietolandia by psychology students: an online learning experience for university graduates in psychology from 1995 to 2003, when the program came to an end.

In 1996, Prof. John Suler at Rider University started to write an electronic book, The Basic Psychological Qualities of Cyberspace, made available online, another project in a course of continuous expansion. The point of departure was an intensive case study carried out on the psychological and social interactions held by members of a very vivid and evolving community who used to meet in a quiet notorious virtual space known as ‘‘The Palace’’ (http://www.thepalace.com) that closed by the end of the 1990s but was again active by 2004. In 1995–1996 it was a visual, auditory, and chat environment where visitors adopted and role-played a large variety of characters by using graphical representations in the realm of pure fantasy and fiction. Suler used the participant observation technique to study cyberspace as ‘‘a psychological space’’ and as ‘‘a dream world.’’ The psychoanalytic as well as field theory perspectives shaped the theoretical and operational background, making sense of what emerged in this research project. Internet users felt comfortable because somehow cyberspace was ‘‘an extension of their mind and personality—a ‘space’ that reflects their tastes, attitudes, and interests.’’ Following a psychoanalytical vein, cyberspace was interpreted as a ‘‘transitional space’’ between the self and the other.

A peer-reviewed journal entitled Cyberpsychology and Behavior was launched in 1998 (http://www.liebertpub.com) and made public during the 24th International Congress of Applied Psychology and the 106th Annual APA Convention, both held in San Francisco in August 1998. Since the year 2000, the electronic and the printed version have been accessible at the same time; subscribers have access to each online issue via a password.

Gackenbach compiled 13 contributions written by 20 authors from Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States focusing on the psychology of Internet use. Special attention was paid to the normal and deviant aspects of the self when staying online, lively relationships maintained during close and distant interactions, and transpersonal issues such as the development of consciousness and collective unconscious. Through surveys and case studies, the incidence of Internet addiction was examined and its presence was restricted to ‘‘an exceedingly tiny minority’’ (p. 71). This is a typical example of research findings that refute comments in the mass media occasionally introduced by practitioners expressing opinions without reliable data on the subject.

Wallace approached the Internet within a psychological perspective; the outcome was a book titled The Psychology of the Internet. It focused on the ‘‘online persona’’ and the way Internet users generate impressions, use masks as ID during interactions, and become involved in group dynamics through conformity and cooperation as well as conflicts and aggressions. She studied how liking and loving take place on the net, calling attention to how interpersonal attractions arise when people try to find out who is next door on the net.

Fink is the lead author of a book devoted to analyzing how to use computers and cyberspace in the clinical practice and psychotherapy. There are 10 separate contributions that each highlight specific topics. Together, they scrutinize the challenges faced by professional psychologists determined to transmute the conventional couch into an online couch, to explore the self by inviting the patient to produce a personal Web page, to go after the consequences of a disembodied gender in cyberspace, and to go along with the consequences of virtual healthcare programs. A catalogue of Internet resources for clinical psychologists was added as a bonus.

Gordo-Lo´ pez and Parker, in a book entitled Cyberpsychology, brought together a set of 14 articles written by 16 psychologists and social science scholars from Europe, the United States, and Latin America, bringing into focus the relationships between psychology and cybernetics. The prevailing approach is rather theoretical, rooting psychology into the technocultural background of cyberspace without endorsing fantasies of liberation that surround NICT in the mass media and the popular culture regarding the Internet. The approach is rather interpretative:

‘‘Cyberpsychology needs to embed within itself a self-annihilating device, a certain kind of critical and self-critical narrative’’; ‘‘We want to insist that it is only in its ephemeral use that the potential of cyberpsychological critique can function’’ (p. 16).

Birnbaum compiled 12 contributions produced by 23 authors from Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Studies carried out in the Internet were compared to similar studies carried out in laboratories or in field studies, stressing methodological aspects to be taken into consideration when deciding which is the appropriate medium to use. The role of individual differences and cross-cultural differences as identified through online research was also examined. Potential uses of advanced computer techniques or pondering the appropriateness of server-side solutions reveal weak points in design as well as the adequacy of server– client relationships. This is an Achilles heel rarely assessed in papers.

Wolfe compiled 12 contributions written by 19 authors from Europe and the United States that examine cost-effective advances and achievements attained by the use of learning technologies placing the development of Web resources on a consistent psychological foundation. It combines theoretical advances and empirical findings and moves from the frame of reference of the individual learner to that of learning communities in university campuses. One out of two college courses list Web resources in the syllabus, and one out of four college courses have their own Web pages, thus producing a gap between those making an offer of online and offline handouts or practical exercises, for instance.

Prensky has emphasized the importance of computerized games as educational and training tools that meet the needs and learning styles of people wishing to improve their expertise by using simulations and theatrical scenarios. There is in fact a generational gap between educators belonging to a pre-digital cohort and students raised in an audiovisual and digitalized cultural background. Digital game-based strategies allow the acquisition of very specific skills on demand for specialized jobs and risky situations. Findings and developments founded on studies derived from the psychology of play provide the background for the cognitive and emotional involvement of students galvanized as players.

Reips and Bosnjak compiled 20 contributions written by 40 authors from Europe and the United States. These papers obtained expert advice and commentaries from two rounds of double peer review from 32 independent reviewers, evidencing high standards in standard publication procedures. They examine the Internet both as an instrument for, and an object of, scientific research, and approach issues such as psychological Web experiments, Web questionnaire studies, studying perception on the net, net-based surveys, and communication research as well as knowledge acquisition and learning throughout cyberspace.

Stein has written an essential Baedeker for students and scholars, a traveler’s guide to the topography of cyberpsychology. His book is a comprehensive and accessible overview of what resources are available, how to track down subject-specific materials and use them efficiently, and how to compile Internet references for term papers, reports, and dissertations. The author has also provided an online catalogue of appropriate hyperlinks mentioned in the book.

3. Cyberpsychology: Six Perspectives As Operational Tools

It is possible to distinguish six quite different strategic approaches followed by applied psychologists when they use the Internet and multimedia hyperdocuments in daily professional activities. Private life approaches are not considered here, but they are always embedded as background. The six professional strategies advanced are (1) instrumental, (2) dimensional, (3) process-based, (4) pragmatic, (5) psychopathologically biased, and (6) knowledge management-based.

3.1. A Tool for Psychologists

The first strategy approaches online computer-based resources and support facilities as a tool for conducting a large number of activities that psychologists carry out regularly in university campuses as well as in professional practice. It is an instrumental way of understanding psychology within the cyberspace, the nexus ‘‘means to an end.’’ Cyberspace is viewed as a means to (1) communicate via email or transmit documents, (2) participate in discussions via interactive groups and Web-based conferences, (3) exchange or supply files and programs, (4) carry out transactions with customers, and (5) increase visibility across borders. Thus, cyberspace is valued as a useful territory that facilitates the achievement of certain ad hoc aims, rooted in psychological action and effective performance. Psychology students and graduates typically learn to handle only a few of the tools available, those they become comfortable with and use for certain purposes. Newer tools are often avoided because they demand too much time and imply too much incertitude: only members of younger cohorts are open minded enough to try them. This attitude contrasts with the hedonistic ways of understanding cyberspace: a stage for playfulness and inventiveness, a joyful scenario for divergent thinking among advance expert knowledge-based groups ready to fix acceptable standards in 5 or 10 years.

3.2. Alternate Dimensions of Experience

The second strategy deals with psychological dimensions of computer-based settings, online environments, and personal and professional grounds of performance instigated by the involvement in computer networks. It is the realm of magnitudes and measurements present in online phenomena and online users. It brings to the forefront the psychological analysis of personality questionnaires, for instance, producing comparisons between factor structures obtained through offline and online versions of the same instrument. Present evidence suggests equivalence regarding what they measure and how well they serve the intended purpose. Similar approaches have been tried in the study of abilities, skills, interests, and values underlying online tasks and activities examined by researchers to obtain the factors or clusters underlying effective or ineffective performance. It allows the identification of multifaceted features such as experience requirements, cyber-users’ characteristics and requirements, and communalities and specificities among members of relevant virtual communities. Follow-up studies of observable response patterns obtained through Web-based surveys favor the reconstruction of response undertakings and the identification of specific typological profiles different from those obtained via offline surveys. For example, controlling the display of questions and answering actions allows the number of questions displayed and the number of answers marked to be taken into consideration. Findings support the distinction between ‘‘performers’’ and

‘‘explorers’’ as basic typology. Performers answer all questions displayed, whereas explorers read initial set of instructions and preliminary items and quit suddenly, read the full set of questions screen by screen but never answer, or answer a few or even many questions but do not conclude the protocol. The psychological study of group structures in cyberspace also follows a dimensional approach, since it allows comparisons within and between communities to identify overt or hidden fraternities in communication networks, leadership styles in online chats, and prevailing norms and roles among users when they are on stage in a Web conference room, for example. Psychological dimensions are also the basis for the study of human diversity in cyberspace.

3.3. Psychological Processes and Human Performance

The third strategy addresses the issue of the psychological processes associated with human performance in networked computers and hypermedia. This process-based notion of cyber-psychology stresses that analysis may be carried out at the individual or at the group level and that it requires follow-up controls and strategies. The distinction between text-based and hypertext-based handouts used in online seminars has served to analyze operational and cognitive interactions concerning navigation, information scrutiny, and knowledge acquisition. Feelings of getting lost while navigating hypertext documents have been detected, and organization and presentation schemes have been suggested and validated to provide reliable frameworks for interested readers. For instance, the use of frames that include a contents index or a graphic map synchronized to sequential actions seems to facilitate the orientation of individual readers. Generational gaps have been remarked upon, and the presence or absence of dynamic icons accentuates the impression of ‘‘cool’’ versus ‘‘puerile’’ settings and thus acceptance or rebuff, by cohorts, of information presented. Eye movement screenings allow the analysis of how much time readers stay absorbed in a given text paying or not paying attention to navigation bar as compared to readers looking through a hypertext document. The navigation process seems to distract persons who are not experts in the subject from the actual text; they retrieve more information compared to those who are expert in the subject who can skim the text with hypertext advantages. Sensation, perception, attention, memory, knowledge acquisition, conscious experience, tacit learning and so on play an active role in the way people behave in cyberspace and have been examined, capitalizing on models and procedures developed in cognitive psychology. The study of group processes in cyberspace enables the discernment of formation, commitment, and identity within a given virtual community, as well as the understanding of influences pervading each community, of decision-making patterns and the value of minority dissent, of conscious and unconscious phenomena, and of autonomy and effectiveness.

3.4. Optimizing the Cyberspace Experience

The fourth strategy tackles the understanding of useful principles and guidelines based on psychological grounds that may improve the success of a home page, a portal, or an online e-business or e-commerce action plan. It is a pragmatic notion of cyber-psychology that looks for psychological theories, models, or findings that may refine communication patterns, learning strategies, and the intended presence and visibility of individuals and groups in cyberspace. The focus of attention is the identification of how cyberspace can be used to isolate and advance a psychological elucidation of behaviors and actions and the way of influencing its appearance or withdrawal. For instance, Gestalt psychology principles, formulated at the turn of the 20th century, are still an adequate framework in which to ameliorate the design of multimedia pages and navigation tools. Tacit learning theories have been implemented to reduce the number of procedural steps in online commercial or stock market transactions. Heuristic techniques have been used to optimize the testing of complex hypermedia documents to identify missing links, errors, intended loops, or unfortunate paths, before producing the final version. The pragmatic approach favors a focus on online behavior as natural, on online inventiveness in problem-solving strategies as natural, and on accepting a continuous flow of new online standards and norms as natural.

3.5. Cyber Pathology

The fifth strategy focuses on online psychological disorders; online overuse is the recurring example. In fact, it is the consequence of a parody written in 1995 by Ivan Goldberg, a psychiatrist who is quite active online, that made fun of the pathological gambling criteria described in DSM-IV. This resulted in a psychopathologically biased notion of cyber-psychology pivoting on reported cases of pornography, interpersonal or sexual attraction, disembodied gender, marital problems, neglect of children, and so on, as broadcast by the mass media. The high visibility of this perspective resulted in focus on antisocial and manipulative behavior online. However, it must be stated that cyberspace just mirrors a person’s regular social behavior and is simply a new scenario for interrelating with others. There is no evidence suggesting that cyberspace may be the direct cause of new mental or emotional problems. It is more a matter of inappropriate virtual behaviors such as (1) spam, invasive, unsolicited, and superabundant email, (2) ‘‘spoof,’’ a message sent with the sender’s identity concealed, and (3) ‘‘flaming,’’ communication that is perceived as an insult, a direct attack, abuse, insolence, or rudeness. The large majority of cyberspace dwellers understand the consequence of spamming or spoofing because their email inboxes regularly receive a large number of unwanted or forged email messages. These behaviors have highly detrimental consequences, since many derived costs are borne by the person receiving the messages instead of the sender. Paradoxically, these inappropriate behaviors can shock online users, but usually are not considered scandalous or outrageous by offline users such as investigative journalists or psychologists in the field. This is just one example of double standards regarding criminal behavior in cyberspace versus in ‘‘real life.’’

3.6. Information and Knowledge Management

The sixth strategy views cyberspace as a huge virtual library that facilitates access to information in accounts, advertisements, books, brochures, databases, discussion groups, documents, journals, manuals, newsgroups, papers, journals, newsgroups, proceedings, software, surveys, syllabi, and so on. At first glance, cyberspace can be viewed as a storehouse ready to grasp the interest of psychologists interested in keeping an open mind to a large variety of old and new subjects, theoretical, technical, or practical. However, the use of filters is required to separate the wheat from the chaff. The same criteria that are useful in the analysis of scientific papers can be used to identify helpful online resources: (1) intended audience, (2) authority on the subject, (3) amount and type of coverage (e.g., in-depth versus superficial), (4) milieu in which the information is accessible, (5) objectivity versus subjectivity in distinguishing facts from values or opinions, (6) precision according to reliable sources, (7) topicality (i.e., high or low profile subjects) and, (8) the ease of use of the interface.

References:

Bell, D., & Kennedy, B. M. (2000). The cyberculture reader. London: Routledge.
Birhnhaum, M. H. (2000). Psychological experiments on the San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
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Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics: Control and communication in animal and machine. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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