Papers by Natalie Bazarova
Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2005
Previous studies have explored behavioral variables leading to subjectively-experienced trust and... more Previous studies have explored behavioral variables leading to subjectively-experienced trust and/or liking, or trusting behaviors that are associated with group productivity. Drawing on practices described elsewhere and deriving principles from social information processing theory of computer-mediated communication, this research identified a set of communication rules for virtual groups. A quasiexperimental procedure promoted variance in rule following behavior, allowing assessment of rules in an inter-university course. Six rules were assessed through self-reported measures, and results reveal correlations between each rule and trust and liking. Less consistent are the relationships between rulefollowing and actual performance. Results suggest that either a powerful set of rules has been identified, or that rule-following per se reduces uncertainty and enhances trust in distributed work teams.
Online disclosure refers to revealing personal information to others in an online context. While ... more Online disclosure refers to revealing personal information to others in an online context. While it is common to share online disclosure in dyadic interactions, social media technologies have facilitated online disclosure to social networks consisting of large and diverse audiences. To advance understanding of online disclosure, it is important to account for the dynamic interplay of people’s individual characteristics, media affordances, and social network characteristics, as well as interpersonal dynamics that governs social interactions. Understanding the interplay between these forces will help address key questions about online disclosure production, online disclosure perceptions, and its effects on personal relationships and well-being, as these questions re-emerge with each new technology offering
novel ways to share self with the world.
Bazarova, N. N. , Choi, H. Y., Sosik, V. S., Cosley, D., & Whitlock, J. (2015). Social sharing of emotions on Facebook: Channel differences, satisfaction, and replies. Proceedings of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work Conference (CSCW 2015), March 14-18, 2015. People often share emotions with others in order to manage
their emotional experiences. We inves... more People often share emotions with others in order to manage
their emotional experiences. We investigate how social
media properties such as visibility and directedness affect
how people share emotions in Facebook and their
satisfaction after doing so. 141 participants rated 1,628 of
their own recent status updates, posts they made on others’
walls, and private messages they sent for intensity, valence,
personal relevance, and overall satisfaction they felt after
sharing each message. For network-visible channels—status
updates and posts on others’ walls—they also rated their
satisfaction with replies they received. People shared
differently between channels, with more intense and
negative emotions in private messages. People feel more
satisfied after sharing more positive emotions in all
channels and after sharing more personally relevant
emotions in network-visible channels. Finally, people’s
overall satisfaction after sharing emotions in networkvisible
channels is strongly tied to their reply satisfaction.
Quality of replies, not just quantity, matters, suggesting the
need for designs that help people receive valuable responses
to their shared emotions.
Choi, Y. H., & Bazarova, N. N. (in press). Self-disclosure characteristics and motivations in social media: Extending the functional model to multiple social network sites. Human Communication Research.
The goal of this study was to examine differences in self-disclosure goals, privacy concerns, and... more The goal of this study was to examine differences in self-disclosure goals, privacy concerns, and self-disclosure characteristics between Facebook and Twitter. These sites were compared in terms of audience representations, structural cues that suggest potential audiences for a user, which were conceptualized in two ways: based on privacy boundaries that imply bounded vs. unbounded audiences, and based on network characteristics such as size and diversity for audiences within the boundary. Results
revealed that self-disclosure goals, privacy concerns, and self-disclosure intimacy were different depending on the privacy boundary. Network characteristics were also important,
but their effects were moderated by the privacy boundary type, suggesting a complex interplay between the two types of audience representations in shaping self-disclosure in social media.
Chang, P. F., & Bazarova, N. N. (in press). Managing stigma: Exploring disclosure-response communication patterns in pro-anorexic websites. Health Communication.
Pro-anorexic websites are a popular online venue for individuals with anorexia, but recent resear... more Pro-anorexic websites are a popular online venue for individuals with anorexia, but recent research suggests that they play a role of “Online Negative Enabling Support Groups” because they can undermine recovery and encourage negative behaviors by validating pro-anorexic views. By analyzing 22,811 messages from 5,590 conversations from the Pro-Ana Nation online discussion board forum, this study examines communicative mechanisms of online negative enabling support through language analysis of disclosure-response sequences, changes in the language of the initial discloser within an interaction exchange, and the role of responses in eliciting those changes. The findings show that initiating disclosures containing stigma-related emotion words, anorexia-specific content, and socio-relational content are typically met with negatively valenced responses from other members of the pro-anorexic community. Moreover, although the act of revealing stigmatized information has some cathartic effects, disclosers use more, not less, stigma-related emotion words when they receive negatively valenced responses. These results provide insight into communicative dynamics and effects of online negative enabling support through validation of the pro-anorexic identity and the dangerous cycle of stigma escalation in disclosure-response exchanges on pro-anorexic online communities.
Bazarova, N. N., & Choi, Y. H. (in press). Self-disclosure in social media: Extending the functional approach to disclosure motivations and characteristics on social network sites. Journal of Communication. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcom.12106/abstract
This paper introduces the functional model of self-disclosure on social network sites (SNSs) by i... more This paper introduces the functional model of self-disclosure on social network sites (SNSs) by integrating a functional theory of self-disclosure and research on audience representations as situational cues for activating interpersonal goals. According to this model, people pursue strategic goals and disclose differently depending on social media affordances, and self-disclosure goals mediate between media affordances and disclosure intimacy. The results of the empirical study examining self-disclosure motivations and characteristics in Facebook status updates, wall posts, and private messaging lend support to this model and provide insights into the motivational drivers of self-disclosure on SNSs, helping to reconcile traditional views on self-disclosure and self-disclosing behaviors in new media contexts.
Bazarova, N. N., Taft, J., Choi, Y. H., & Cosley, D. (2013). Managing Impressions and Relationships on Facebook: Self- Presentational and Relational Concerns Revealed Through the Analysis of Language Style
Bazarova, N. N. (2012). Public Intimacy: Disclosure Interpretation and Social Judgments on Facebook. Journal of Communication, 62, 815-832.
This research examines how sociotechnical affordances shape interpretation of disclosure and soci... more This research examines how sociotechnical affordances shape interpretation of disclosure and social judgments on social networking sites. Drawing on the disclosure personalism framework, Study 1 revealed that information unavailability and relational basis underlay personalistic judgments about Facebook disclosures: Perceivers inferred greater message and relational intimacy from disclosures made privately than from those made publicly. Study 2 revealed that perceivers judged intimate disclosures shared publicly as less appropriate than intimate disclosures shared privately, and that perceived disclosure appropriateness accounted for the effects of public versus private contexts on reduced liking for a discloser. Taken together, the results show how sociotechnical affordances shape perceptions of disclosure and relationships, which has implications for understanding relational development and maintenance on SNS.
Jiang, C. L., Bazarova, N. N., & Hancock, J. T. (2013). From perceptions to behaviors: Disclosure reciprocity in computer-mediated and face-to-face interactions. Communication Research, 40, 125-143.
Bazarova, N. N., & Hancock, J. T. (2012). Attributions after a group failure: Do they matter? Effects of attributions on group communication and performance. Communication Research, 39, 499-522.
Social network sites (SNSs) provide new forms of
communication, in which people routinely share p... more Social network sites (SNSs) provide new forms of
communication, in which people routinely share personal
information with a large audience. The goal of this research
is to examine how a public context in which disclosures are
revealed influences receivers’ impressions of disclosure and
a discloser on SNSs. The results of the original study
reported in this paper indicate that publicly shared
disclosures were perceived as less intimate and less
appropriate than privately shared disclosures on Facebook,
and perceptions of disclosure appropriateness mediated the
effects of public/private contexts on social attraction for a
discloser. The results inform research on social outcomes
associated with SNS’s use, as well as design considerations
for privacy- and disclosure-related behaviors in social
media.
Bazarova, N. N., Walther, J. B., & McLeod, P. L. (2012). Minority influence in virtual groups: A comparison of four theories of minority influence. Communication Research, 39, 295-316.
Jiang, C. L., Bazarova, N. N., & Hancock, J. T. (2011).The disclosure-intimacy link in computer-mediated communication: An attributional extension of the hyperpersonal model. Human Communication Research, 37, 58-77.
The present research investigated whether the attribution process through which people explain se... more The present research investigated whether the attribution process through which people explain self-disclosures differs in text-based computer-mediated interactions versus face to face, and whether differences in causal attributions account for the increased intimacy frequently observed in mediated communication. In the experiment participants were randomly assigned to a face-to-face or computer-mediated interaction with a confederate who made either high- or low-intimacy self-disclosures. Results indicated that computer-mediated interactions intensified the association between disclosure and intimacy relative to face-to-face interactions, and this intensification effect was fully mediated by increased interpersonal (relationship) attributions observed in the computer-mediated condition. The article presents an attributional extension of the hyperpersonal model (Walther, 1996) by demonstrating the role of causal attributions in interpersonal intensification processes in text-based computer-mediated interactions.Le lien entre révélation et intimité dans la communication médiée par ordinateur : une extension attributionnelle du modèle hyperpersonnelCette étude a cherchéà savoir si le processus d’attribution par lequel les gens expliquent les révélations personnelles est différent dans les interactions textuelles médiées par ordinateur comparativement aux interactions face à face. Elle a aussi cherchéà savoir si les différences d’attribution causale expliquent l’intimité plus grande observée fréquemment dans la communication médiatisée. Les participants ont été assignés au hasard à une interaction face à face ou médiée par ordinateur avec un complice qui révélait des informations personnelles à fort ou faible degré d’intimité. Les résultats indiquent que les interactions médiées par ordinateur ont intensifié l’association entre révélations et intimité par rapport aux interactions face à face. Cet effet d’intensification était pleinement médié par une hausse d’attributions interpersonnelles (de relation) observées dans la situation médiée par ordinateur. L’article présente une extension attributionnelle du modèle hyperpersonnel (Walther, 1996) en démontrant le rôle de l’attribution causale dans les procédés d’intensification interpersonnelle dans les interactions textuelles médiées par ordinateur.Mots clés : révélation de soi, attribution, intimité, modèle hyperpersonnel, communication médiée par ordinateurThe Disclosure-Intimacy Link in Computer-Mediated Communication:An Attributional Extension of the Hyperpersonal ModelDer Zusammenhang von Offenbarung und Intimität bei computervermittelter Kommunikation: Eine attributionale Erweiterung des Hyperpersonal-ModellsVorliegende Studie untersucht, ob sich der Attributionsprozess, durch den sich Menschen Selbstoffenbarungen erklären, bei textbasierter computervermittelter Interaktion und direkter Interaktion unterscheidet, und ob Unterschiede in der Kausalattribution eine größere Intimität bedingen, die oft bei vermittelter Kommunikation beobachtet wird. In dem Experiment wurden die TeilnehmerInnen zufällig für die direkte Interaktion oder computervermittelte Interaktion mit einem Verbündeten eingeteilt, der entweder Offenbarungen von hoher oder niedriger Intimität machte. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass computervermittelte Interaktion vergleichen mit direkter Kommunikation die Verbindung zwischen Offenbarung und Intimität intensivierte, und dass dieser Intensivierungseffekt durch vermehrte interpersonale Beziehungsattributionen vermittelt wird, die in der computervermittelten Kondition beobachtet werden konnten. Der Artikel präsentiert eine attributionale Erweiterung des Hyperpersonal-Modells (Walther, 1996), indem er die Rolle von Kausalattributionen bei interpersonalen Intensivierungsprozessen im Rahmen textbasierter computervermittelter Interaktionen aufzeigt.Schlüsselbegriffe: Offenbarung, Attribution, Intimität, Hyperpersonal-Modell, computervermittelte KommunikationLa Conexión Revelación-Intimidad en la Comunicación Mediada por la Computadora:Un Modelo de Extensión de la Atribución del Modelo Hiper-personalResumenEsta pesquisa investigó si el proceso de atribución a través del cual la gente explica sus auto-revelaciones difieren entre las interacciones de texto mediadas por la computadora versus las de cara a cara, y si las diferencias en atribuciones causales responden a un incremento en la intimidad observada frecuentemente en la comunicación mediatizada. En el experimento los participantes fueron asignados al azar a una interacción cara a cara o mediatizada por la computadora con un confederado quien hizo auto revelaciones de gran o poca intimidad. Los resultados indicaron que las interacciones mediadas por la computadora intensificaron la asociación entre la revelación y la intimidad en relación a las interacciones cara a cara, y este efecto de intensificación estuvo mediado por completo por un incremento de atribuciones interpersonales (de relación) observadas en la condición mediada por la computadora. Este artículo presenta una extensión de la atribución del modelo hiper-personal (Walther, 1996) mediante la demonstración del rol de las atribuciones causales en los procesos de intensificación de interpersonal en las interacciones de texto mediados por la computadora.Palabras Claves: Auto-revelación, atribución, intimidad, modelo hiper-personal, comunicación mediada por la computadora
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Papers by Natalie Bazarova
novel ways to share self with the world.
their emotional experiences. We investigate how social
media properties such as visibility and directedness affect
how people share emotions in Facebook and their
satisfaction after doing so. 141 participants rated 1,628 of
their own recent status updates, posts they made on others’
walls, and private messages they sent for intensity, valence,
personal relevance, and overall satisfaction they felt after
sharing each message. For network-visible channels—status
updates and posts on others’ walls—they also rated their
satisfaction with replies they received. People shared
differently between channels, with more intense and
negative emotions in private messages. People feel more
satisfied after sharing more positive emotions in all
channels and after sharing more personally relevant
emotions in network-visible channels. Finally, people’s
overall satisfaction after sharing emotions in networkvisible
channels is strongly tied to their reply satisfaction.
Quality of replies, not just quantity, matters, suggesting the
need for designs that help people receive valuable responses
to their shared emotions.
revealed that self-disclosure goals, privacy concerns, and self-disclosure intimacy were different depending on the privacy boundary. Network characteristics were also important,
but their effects were moderated by the privacy boundary type, suggesting a complex interplay between the two types of audience representations in shaping self-disclosure in social media.
communication, in which people routinely share personal
information with a large audience. The goal of this research
is to examine how a public context in which disclosures are
revealed influences receivers’ impressions of disclosure and
a discloser on SNSs. The results of the original study
reported in this paper indicate that publicly shared
disclosures were perceived as less intimate and less
appropriate than privately shared disclosures on Facebook,
and perceptions of disclosure appropriateness mediated the
effects of public/private contexts on social attraction for a
discloser. The results inform research on social outcomes
associated with SNS’s use, as well as design considerations
for privacy- and disclosure-related behaviors in social
media.