Interaction Out Of Role: Investigation On Interpersonal Interaction Between Strangers In Cyberspace

A lot of research on Internet basically has concluded that Internet has evolved into a "virtual society", and thus became a new field, new platform, a new mode, the new method, the new spaces for humans'social behavior and social life. It is a virtual space and new media with public and personal character, in which not only acquaintance, organization members interact each other, but strangers interact each other. In comparison, attention to interaction between strangers at this stage has more academic value, because it is obvious that interpersonal interaction between strangers in cyberspace is different from that in realistic society.First, this paper attempted to explain the phenomenon of interaction between strangers in cyberspace from the perspective of Role Theory, and emphatically analyzed the difference of interpersonal interaction between in cyberspace and in realistic society from identity, social expectations and norms and role behavior, simultaneously explored the limitation of role theory. Second, the paper investigated the particularity of interpersonal interaction between strangers in cyberspace. Based on data from the questionnaire, there are some similarities between interacton in cyerspace and in real society, but the differences are obvious. Especially, the particularity of interaction between strangers in cyberspace includes deconstruction and reconstruction of social identity, the reduction of the compulsory role of social expectations and norms, obvious self-orientation of individual.Based on the theoretical and positive analysis, we further explored the particularity of interaction between strangers in cyberspace, which cannot fully be explained by Role Theory? Mainly discussed from three aspects:firstly, this paper explored the nature of cyberspace as interpersonal interaction field. The paer described the ways of interaction in cyberspace, and briefly discussed social logic of cyberspace, then analyzed three basic conditions and impacts on interpersonal interaction provided by cyberspace:body-absence, anonymity and symbolization, Secondly,the paper explored the self-reprensentation of individual in cyberspace. The paper described the changes of subjects of interaction, which are from contextual individual to separate individual, from a positive, concrete individual to obscure, abstract individual, from the time of stretching and space relatively fixed individual to time cracked and spatial flowing individual, from bodily individual to symbolic individual, and finally discussed the communicative form in cyberspace,then explored the pariticularity of self-identity,impression management and self-disclosure.Finally,this paper discussed the interpersonal interaction in cyberspace. The paper discussed the characteristics of interpersonal interaction in cyberspace from such multi-dimension of interaction as orientation, depth, breadth and frequency, and the mechanism of interpersonal interaction in cyberspace from subject, rules, purpose and the front and back stage, then, the paper explored the particularity of interpersonal interaction in cyberspace, from the point of interpersonal attraction and interpersonal trust in cyberspace.Based on the above analysis, this paper claimed that the essence of interpersonal interaction in cyberspace is interaction out of role, and further made a brief discussion about the connotation, the premise, the cause of interaction out of role interaction and differences from role interaction. Because unlike in real society, cyberspace is an abstract and virtual space which there is not incarnatement and appreciablity of body, but only a substantiality and repeatability of function. Not only communication and information was symbolized in cyberspace, but subjects were also symbolized. It is possible that individual was not be its real self (namely self in one's real social life), and then had an opportunity to act with freedom. It was assumed that individuals can abandon any properties of one own (such as physical, psychological and social, etc) in realistic social life, simultaneously can recombine any attributes of real-life, can lay aside any cultural norms in reality, and finally can not accept any social expectations from society. Devoid of definite status, norms, external social expectations, individual seemed to become a truly free subject which is not confined to any external factors, the unique reason of individual action seemed to follow their own inner summon. When individuals had freely controlled their own status and social action, restriction of role to individual is weakening, because norms and expectations of role can not restrain role identity and role behavior.Internet has really changed many aspects of interpersonal interaction in the realistic society, simultaneously we must pay attention, once culture of cyberspace came into being, it had its relative independence, but people out of cyberspace has a kind of realistic culture different from cyberculture, and the culture of real society will have an on-going impact on cyberculture. So, even though we see many different aspects of interpersonal interaction in cyberspace, when interpersonal interaction return from cyberspace into real society, everything again work in terms of the logic of real society. Therefore, once separating from the particular field of cyberspace, human behavior in cyberspace different from that in real society can't still be with the same. Cyberspace is only a space in which people temporarily break away from the restriction of actually social structure, people temporarily liberate and free, people occasionally return his true self. It is superficial that interpersonal interaction in cyberspace is free and equal, so it is remote that cyberspace became a "real public sphere", "the ideal field of interpersonal interaction" just as many researchers have longed for.