In class on Wednesday we discussed how groups are different when they are face to face versus when they are online.  We touched on the obvious differences in that when a group is online the communication between its members is not anywhere near as synchronous as communication is in a face to face group and that there is no shared physical space when it comes to online groups.  One thing that was pointed out was that asynchronous is not a bad thing and in fact groups have proven to accomplish tasks better this way.

A specific example that we talked about in class was the Reduced Social Cues Model found by Sprull and Kiesler in 1986. It was pointed out that this model fits into the “Cues Filtered Out” approach, however they found that computer mediation is bad for group processes. The basic assumptions they found where that interactions are far more difficult to manage, yet it is more task focused because you can’t deal with the relation aspect of the group just the task at hand.  They also found that there was less pressure to behave and that decisions are more extreme in online groups.

Another key point that we talked about in class was the difference in anonymity and conformity. It was said that why they are very different they both can be positive or they can both be negative. First we talked about the pros of anonymity which largely revolved around the freedom from constraints that you have. However the cons of anonymity went hand and hand with the pros in that the freedom from responsibility that you are given enables them to say things that they would not say face to face.  On the flip side conformity was the tendency for one’s beliefs to be affected by prevailing beliefs. This typically occurs in face to face groups because the members have a much more personal influence on you to the point that the group could change a member's mind. This was explained nicely by Solomon Asch who believed that Sherif’s conformity experiment’s main problem was that there was no correct answer to his experiment. In his experiment--later know as Asch’s Line Test-- had a participant and seven confederates put into a room. The confederates had already agreed with what their answers would be but the participant had no idea about this. In the same room everyone was asked to answer what line (A,B,C) was closest to matching a separate target line, and the confederates answers were always wrong. In the end the results of the study found that about ⅓ of all participants went with what the group (confederates) answered. This study truly showed just how easy it is for a person to be swayed by a group.