Tool for or source of action? A social psychological perspective on the influence of virtual worlds on reality

Authors

  • Sandy Schumann
  • Francois Luong

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i6.3494

Keywords:

social movements, online-offline transfer, group polarization, social identity processes

Abstract

Social movements are, especially since the revolution in Egypt, often linked to the mobilizing “power” of the Internet. Very frequently, the Internet is viewed as a tool to coordinate and organize such actions. The aim of this article is to extend this perspective and introduce a framework of explicit and implicit mechanisms that can enforce a transfer of online actions off–line. We relate the proposed framework to the behavior model of persuasive design to identify necessary conditions for this transfer.

Author Biographies

Sandy Schumann

Sandy Schumann (Dipl.-Psych.) is a PhD student and FRS-F.N.R.S. fellow at the Unit of Social Psychology, ULB, Belgium. Her research interests include computer-mediated communication processes, intergroup relations and group polarization.

Francois Luong

Luong is currently completing his Master’s degree in Social and Intercultural Psychology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He did a research internship at the Unit of Social Psychology in 2011.

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Published

2011-06-03

How to Cite

Schumann, S., & Luong, F. (2011). Tool for or source of action? A social psychological perspective on the influence of virtual worlds on reality. First Monday, 16(6). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i6.3494