參考資料
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「你發現沒?在某乎社區SOCIAL的GAY,好像人均985!」搜集碩士論文相關數據時,一位朋友打趣地說。
對此類現象有相同感受的大有人在,還有朋友表示自己在發布交友貼之後,和他聊天的網友幾乎都會主動介紹自己優秀的學歷。
有趣的是,這樣的「迷惑行為」不只發生在中國的TXL社群中。
一位碩士同班同學就在關注着性少數群體在網絡社交中的學歷呈現。研究起源是他在英國使用交友軟件時,很多教育良好的GAY會在自我介紹里寫明學歷,甚至還會將本碩博就讀的學校名稱通通展示出來。
問題來了,為什麼TXL傾向於在交友軟件中透露自己的教育背景?我們可以通過對「自我呈現」的理解來分析行為背後的動機。
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在學術中,上述情況可以被總結為「印象管理」。通過用戶的自我呈現,為互動者塑造一個自己想要呈現的印象,而達成這樣目的的手段,便可以被稱為印象管理。
使用印象管理的人像一個表演者,他們需要去創造並維持一個自己設定的身份特徵,俗稱「人設」,來滿足他人判斷自己的標準,製造一種令人信服的印象。
而塑造「人設」的原因就像在面對面(face-to-face)互動時期,歐文·戈夫曼(1959)首先對自我呈現的現象進行的概念化總結那樣,「社交生活的表達成分被視為他人給予或接受印象的來源,而個體傾向於根據他人現在對過去和未來的印象來對待他們。」
當然,作為互動中的另一方,並不會僅僅通過一個人的自我呈現而直接生成印象。個人,既是一個表演者(performer),同時又是一個角色(character),因此,人們可以通過觀察了解這個人的品質及精神,進行印象加工。
自我呈現是一種目標導向行為,至少在一定程度上是為了產生特定的自我形象,從而影響旁觀者如何看待行為人。自我呈現也是伴隨着風險的,一旦表演崩塌,便可能會造成極其嚴重的後果,所以戈夫曼也曾感嘆說:「生活也許不是一場賭博,但互動是。」
除了印象管理,人們也會為了減少交友中的不確定性而增加自我表露。
不確定性減少理論(Uncertainty Reduction Theory)是隨後的理論學家在不斷研究着人們互動的過程中,得出的與網絡社交相關的另一個互動理論。
不確定性減少理論由伯傑(Berger)及卡拉布雷斯(Calabrese)在1974年提出,他們關注陌生人在第一次見面時互動的最初階段,這個理論的核心假設是:當陌生人相遇並開始互動時,他們致力於通過實施多種策略以減少他人的不確定性——包括了解他人的個人信息、性格、基本價值觀等——以此預測互動發展過程中他人的行為以及他們之間關係的發展。
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