The Psychology of the Internet

This balanced and engaging research-based textbook explores the psychological aspects of the online world and how they affect human behavior.

Patricia Wallace (Author)

9781107079137, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 November 2015

404 pages, 5 b/w illus. 8 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.6 cm, 0.68 kg

'Whether you're an experienced IT user, a Facebook fan, an online shopper, a researcher, or simply someone who wants to know more about the Internet, this book is a must-read. Like the 1999 first edition, it is engagingly written and carefully documented. Much of what the second edition discusses, however - smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, viral videos, phishing, online privacy and surveillance, growing up online, and more - came about or morphed in the twenty-first century. The Psychology of the Internet offers a fascinating account of how the Internet affects all who use it and how we, in turn, can help to shape its future.' Joan Korenman, Professor Emerita of English, and Founder, Center for Women and Information Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

An engaging and research-based text, The Psychology of the Internet provides a balanced overview of the psychological aspects of cyberspace. It explores crucial questions about the internet's effects on human behavior, such as why we often act in uncharacteristic ways in online environments and how social media influence the impressions we form and our personal relationships. The book's balanced approach to the subject encourages readers to think critically about the psychology of the internet, and how and why their own online behavior unfolds. Drawing on classic and contemporary research, this second edition examines new trends in internet technology, online dating, online aggression, group dynamics, child development, prosocial behavior, online gaming, gender and sexuality, privacy and surveillance, the net's addictive properties, and strategies for shaping the net's future.

1. The internet in a psychological context
2. Your online persona: the psychology of impression formation
3. Group dynamics on the internet
4. The psychology of online aggression
5. Liking and loving on the net: the psychology of interpersonal attraction
6. Altruism on the net: the psychology of prosocial behavior
7. The psychology of online gaming
8. Child development and the internet: growing up online
9. Gender issues and sexuality on the internet
10. The psychology of online privacy and surveillance
11. The internet as a time sink
12. Nurturing life on the internet.

Subject Areas: Popular psychology [VSP], Media, information & communication industries [KNT], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Psychology [JM], Sociology [JHB]