You don't know me: Negative self-views interact with publicness and feedback to shape interpersonal impressions online

Abstract

The present study extends identity shift and hyperpersonal literatures by examining how task feedback may affect interpersonal impressions depending on the publicness and valence of messages. In a 2 × 2 experimental design, participants engaged in an email discussion task with and without 38 CC-ed observers and received either positive or negative feedback. Contrary to expectations, the effects of feedback valence on perceived argument quality and incivility were intensified in the private rather than public condition. This effect was moderated by individuals’ self-views. Participants with high self-views responded critically to negative feedback, regardless of audience size. Those with low self-views responded more critically to private negative feedback than public negative feedback. Findings support a self-verification effect on identity shift, in that publicness activates the need for self-confirming feedback even when self-evaluations are negative. Findings stress the importance of studying individual differences in computer-mediated communication (CMC), particularly to understand the effects of audience in online impression formation.