Hyperpersonal model
The hyperpersonal model is a model of interpersonal communication that suggests computer-mediated communication (CMC) can become hyperpersonal because it "exceeds [face-to-face] interaction", thus affording message senders a host of communicative advantages over traditional face-to-face (FtF) interaction. The hyperpersonal model demonstrates how individuals communicate uniquely, while representing themselves to others, how others interpret them, and how the interactions create a reciprocal spiral of FtF communication. Compared to ordinary FtF situations, a hyperpersonal message sender has a greater ability to strategically develop and edit self-presentation, enabling a selective and optimized presentation of one's  self to others. Communication professor Joseph Walther is credited with the development of this theory in 1996, synthesizing his and others' extensive research on computer-mediated communication. Conditions and key components. Conditions. The hyperpersonal model addresses three questions: 1) when is mediated interaction impersonal; 2) when is CMC interpersonal; and 3) when is CMC hyperpersonal? Hyperpersonal communication, according to Walther, is "more socially desirable than we tend to experience in parallel FtF interaction" (p. 17). Combinations of media attributes, social phenomena, and social-psychological processes may lead CMC to become "hyperpersonal", that is, to exceed face-to-face (FtF) communication . This perspective suggests that CMC users may experience greater levels of intimacy, unity and liking within a group or dyad than similar groups or dyads interacting FtF. Key components. Senders. This component refers to "selective self-presentation". In CMC, message senders have a greater opportunity to optimize their self-presentation. Walther argues, "[CMC participants] were better able to plan, and had increased opportunity to self-censor. With more time for message construction and less stress of ongoing interaction, users may have taken the opportunity to objective self-awareness, reflection, selection and transmission of preferable cues." Message senders use the process  of selective self-presentation, which refers to CMC users' ability to manage their online image. Being able to self-censor and manipulate messages is possible to do within a CMC context to a greater extent than in FtF interactions, so individuals have greater control over what cues are sent. Walther point out that asynchronous messages and reduced communication cues contribute to selective self-presentation. In CMC, communicators may inflate attributions about their communication partners. When communication partners are geographically dispersed, individuals are likely to make positive attributions if group salience is high. As a result, members are more likely to  make attributions of similarity that lead to greater liking for partners. Paralinguistic cues are used as part of assessing communication partners when using CMC. Selective self-presentation provides an avenue for people to manage their image in a manner that FtF interaction does not. Reduced communication cues and potentially asynchronous communication are both common in CMC. "Reduced Cues": CMC reduces cues present in normal FtF interactions. In CMC, first impressions aren't based on physical, and instead rely on information and personality. Senders impressions are more malleable than in an in-person interaction. Walthers cites a study by Chilcoat and  DeWine (1985) in which three interpersonal perceptions were examined (attractiveness, attitude similarity, and credibility) against three asynchronous communication vehicles (FtF, videoconferencing, and audioconferencing). One would expect FtF to produce higher ratings for the interpersonal characteristics, but the opposite was true: audioconferencing partners produced higher ratings of their partners' attractiveness, attitude similarity, and credibility than in videoconference or FtF interaction. Receivers. This component refers to "idealization". Walther argues that receivers have an "idealized perception" of the message sender in CMC. He says that the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) predicts that subtle context cues take on a strong value  in CMC. The absence of FtF cues leads to the fact that receivers may be very sensitive to any subtle social or personality cues that occur in CMC communication this way, CMC partners build impressions of one another on minimal cues. With fewer cues on which to base their perceptions, receivers have to "fill in the gaps" of their understanding of the other interactant and often assume more positive characteristics of them. In other words, without FtF cues to mediate the interaction, participants may assume their partner is a "better person" than they actually are. Asynchronous channel. Since CMC does n't require copresence the way FtF communication does, members can take part in activities at their own convenience, taking advantaged of disentrained communication channels. Walther cites a relaxation of time constraints in CMC, often allowing for an asynchronous mode of communication. For example, with group communication, "...Making temporal commitments becomes discretionary. Group members may attend to the group process independently in time. When partners may attend their groups at their convenience, limitations on the amount of partners' mutual time available for meetings are less problematic." Disentrained channels—most often asynchronous communication, via email or forums—gives individuals a way to  manage their relationships within groups more efficiently than via FtF. Using asynchronous communication, such as email, individuals are able to manage group relationships in a way that maximizes time spent on group tasks. Through the process of entrainment, people synchronize their activities to meet the requirements of the group's needs, which is constrained by each individuals time and attention. Entrainment can make it difficult for groups to complete tasks together since it requires FtF, and thus synchronous, communication, which may include off-topic discussions that hinder productivity. Asynchronous communication may mitigate entrainment associated with group interaction. According to Walther , asynchronous group interaction may not be constrained by time and/or competing commitments. Group members using asynchronous communication can devote their full attention to the group when they have the opportunity. Greater attention can be spent focusing on tasks related to the group rather than spending time and effort on communication that is irrelevant to the goal. According to Walther, CMC removes temporal limitations, thereby freeing time constraints. "Both task-oriented and socially oriented exchanges may take place without one constraining the time available for the other. Feedback processes. Walther argues that the "behavioral confirmation" - "reciprocal influence that partners exert" in  sender-receiver roles — is magnified in minimal-cue interaction like CMC. In other words, in CMC communication, we behave based on the expectation of the other and the social data occurring in communication process is selectively sent and perceived by communicators. Feedback between sender and receiver is a critical part of the communication interaction for relationship development in either FtF or CMC relationships. However, feedback in a minimal-cue environment may be magnified. Behavioral confirmation is the process of communication partners developing impressions and intimacy as a result of interaction. In CMC, behavioral confirmation along with magnification can become idealized , leading CMC partners to develop greater affinity for CMC partners than he or she might develop in a FtF context. This kind of CMC interaction fosters the development of an intensification loop, explaining the hyperpersonal relationships that develop in a cues-limited environment. As the last component of hyperpersonal model, it is conceptualized as reciprocal interaction with others that strengthens one's online performance by bringing together the identity transforming potentials embedded within the other theoretical components. Foundations of the model. FtF vs. CMC. In face-to-face communication, physical features such as appearance, facial expressions, gesture and postures is  exposed to others, which can help to convey nonverbal information to help with the communication. Face-to-face communication is formed naturally in emotional, cognitive and physical aspects. Those nonverbal languages are the cues that lack in CMC communication. Some argue that the lack of nonverbal cues in CMC may decrease one's capability of fostering and managing accurate impression on others. Additionally, the lack of nonverbal cues leads to the fact that CMC communication involves less emotional elements than FtF communication does, which contributes to less richness and interpersonal and expressive cues that may provide more positive impression. While  other holds the opposite opinions. Walther suggested in his research in 1996 that CMC can actually improve the interpersonal bond between senders and receivers because of the lack of nonverbal cues and demographic messages. Walther argued that nonverbal and demographic cues that occur in FtF communication play a distracting role; while in CMC communication, hyperpersonal interaction is created in which senders pay more attention on the strategy of delivering message so that the self-presentation is enhanced and optimized, which eventually improve the interpersonal interaction. Social information processing (SIP). Walther developed an alternate approach to the cues-filtered-out approach . From the social information-processing (SIP) viewpoint, Walther states that people naturally want to develop social relationships. With SIP, the idea of the rate at which social information is exchanged is introduced. Additionally, SIP looks at verbal strategies used in mediated communication. Individuals strategically use language to convey a myriad of information about the sender, enabling the receiver to make attributes about the sender. Yet if CMC really was impersonal, why were so many people adopting CMC for social purposes, such as online gaming, bulletin boards and online chat groups? Walther advanced a different model to explain the growing trend  toward the use of CMC for social interaction. When media attributes, social phenomena and social-psychological processes are integrated, the result is what Walther called "hyperpersonal." Development of the model. Three phases of CMC: impersonal, interpersonal, hyperpersonal. According to Walther's research (1996), the study of CMC went through three phases: from impersonal, to interpersonal, and finally to hyperpersonal. First, because CMC reduces nonverbal communication cues, some argued that CMC was more task-oriented than was FtF. The reasons are: Early CMC group research suggested that CMC groups were better for task-oriented interactions than their FtF counterparts. In task -oriented situations, where overly personal interpersonal interaction is not desired, then impersonal interaction is the appropriate kind of interaction, because the communication exchanges are more focused on the group's task. For example, a geographically dispersed technology team tasked with solving a software application bug may be more productive when the communication is task focused rather than interpersonal in nature. This doesn't mean that all CMC is impersonal, but points out that specific contexts may be better suited for impersonal interaction rather than personal exchanges. Then, Walther stated that CMC is not always impersonal; instead, it can also develop  social relationships. Although there is less social information exchange in CMC because of the absence of nonverbal cues, as the communication time increases, the exchange of social information is increasing accordingly. And the anticipation of future communication may make communicators to look for more information about the other. This mechanism leads to similar immediacy, similarity, composure, and receptivity as in FtF communication. However, there is a shortcoming. Since it takes time for CMC to achieve consensus, if the time for CMC is limited, the information exchanged will be much less than do FtF, which may impact the efficiency of group  work. Finally, Walther brought up the concept of hyperpersonal communication, which demonstrates that "CMC that is more socially desirable than we tend to experience in parallel FtF interaction." Walther proposes that CMC users do take part in hyperpersonal communication. Senders and receivers engage in the process of selective-self presentation through the message they create and send. This can lead to the idealization of the sender by the receiver based on making attributions from available paralingual cues found in the message. This process is enhanced with asynchronous exchanges, letting both sender and receiver have ample time to consider the messages  sent and received. Hyperpersonal interaction would be excessively or above normal personal interaction. In other words, online relationships can develop into hyperpersonal that is excessively personal. When users experience commonality and are self-aware, physically separated, and communicating via a limited-cues channel, they can selectively self-present and edit their communication, enabling them to construct and reciprocate representations of their partners and relations without the interference of environmental reality. Hyperpersonal communication can thus be defined as computer-mediated interaction that is more attractive than experiences in similar FtF exchanges. The hyperpersonal model can be understood by looking at the  established communication processes that include sender, receiver, channel, and feedback. The sender uses the process of selective self-presentation; this refers to CMC users' ability to manage their online image. Being able to self-censor and manipulate messages is possible to do within a CMC context to a greater extent than in FtF interactions, so individuals have greater control over what cues are sent. He made this argument in four aspects of the communication process: receivers, senders, characteristics of the channel, and feedback processes. Relationship between hyperpersonal model and CMC. There are results showing that under CMC, relational intimacy increased  faster than FtF. One of the logics behind this finding is that hyperpersonal model is determining the inflated nature of feedback in CMC. Online communication behaviors have the possibility to exaggerate the influence on self-expression or self-presentations and following internalization. The theoretical assumption of the inflated interpersonal feedback in CMC pointed out in the hyperpersonal model by Walther is advanced by this research. Hyperpersonal model can be deemed as the theoretical framework for the research on exaggerated social process in CMC mainly from the following perspectives: 1)selective presentation, 2)Impression management, 3)Impression management in CMC, 4) idealized interpretation, 5)interpersonal  feedback loop, 6)Identity shift, and 7) influence of feedback on identity shift. Critique. Joyce Lamerichs and Hedwig F. M. Te Molder from the department of communication science at Wageningen University and Research Centre evaluate the ways in which computer-mediated communication (CMC) has thus far been conceptualized, proposing an alternative approach. They argue that traditional perspectives ignore participants' everyday understanding of media use and media characteristics by relying on an individualistic and cognitive framework. The social identity model of deindividuation effects model totally disregards identity construction in daily communication activities like talk, text & email. In order to understand this they  tried to re study online interaction and specifically studied an online forum on depression. It is shown that participants' identities do not so much mirror their inner worlds but are discourse practices in their own right. Related theory. Daft & Lengel's media richness theory. Daft and Lengel's media richness theory first began in the setting of organizations to evaluate media channels within. The theory describes having a set of organizational communication channels with objectives that enable researchers to determine the capacity of rich information. According to Daft and Lengel, they believe communication channels such as email and phone recede  the necessary abilities to convey messages that use rich information. Kock's media naturalness and channel expansion theory. Ned Kock is a researcher of the media naturalness and channel expansion theory (CET). In 2004, Kock originally argued that humans were not equipped to deal with CMC when compared to "richer" forms of communication like FtF interactions. He reasoned this by stating that people evolved in FtF communication and have not had time to evolve into being equally adequate CMC communicators. The Channel Expansion Theory challenges Kock's view of evolutionary changes. CET illustrates how a person is able to develop  certain perceptions of a new media channel. In contrast, in 2011, Kock revisits the issue of Media Naturalness in light of the Channel Expansion theory and, in turn, argues that Media Naturalness and CET can co-exist. Kock finally concludes that CMC interactions can achieve "positive effects"  when compared to an equivalent FtF interaction, in the case of distance learning. SIDE model. SIDE model is a recent development of deindividuation theory, refers to social identity/deindividuation model. It demonstrates that it is that the property of group identity increases, rather other that individual identity loses, that leading to the occurring  changes of CMC users. SIDE model predicts that in CMC, the sense of self diminishes, while the sense of group increases. SIDE model is distinguished from classical deindividuation theory which put its focus on the sense of self rather than the sense of group identity. Impression management. In the work titled 'The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life' (1959), Goffman demonstrated that in FtF communication, people use verbal and nonverbal languages to present appropriately and favorably to others since they care about the image or impression they leave for others and others' perception towards them. This phenomenon is called impression  management. While in text-based CMC, the modification of impression is limited to "language, typographic, and chronemic information." Deindividuation. Deindividuation is a social psychology theory being generally thought as the loss of self-awareness in groups, though this is a matter of contention. Interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication is a process of information exchange between two or more people. This research generally contributes to six categories of inquiry: 1) how humans adapt their verbal communication and nonverbal communication during face-to-face communication, 2) the message production processes. 3) how uncertainty influences our behavior and information-management strategies, 4) deceptive communication , 5) relational dialectics, and 6) social interaction that is mediated by technology. Media richness theory. Media richness theory, also sometimes referred to as information richness theory/MRT, is introduced by Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel in 1986 as an extension of information processing theory. It is a framework aiming to describe a communication medium's ability in reproducing the information sent over it. Nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is communication process sending and receiving information in the form of wordless cues. Politeness theory. Politeness theory explains the redressing of affronts by face-threatening acts to a person's "face . This concept of face is originally generated from Chinese and then into English in the 19th century. Social information processing theory. Also known as SIP, Social information processing theory is an interpersonal communication theory and media studies developed by Joseph Walther in 1992.