I went online to a "randomly assigned" chat room. (id explica the first one on Google that I could get into without registering). I am not a chat room-type person. I have only used this technology onece or twice in my life. I only mention this because it may be a confounding variable in my personal results.
The person I chose to make my impression of was the first person who recognized I was "snooping" on the chat room. Which was his/her word for not contributing, but just watching. It only took about 20 minutes for this person to recognize me. At first, I was struck and flattered that someone had noticed me. This preliminarily boded well for my impression of this person, who was refferred to as DOGG4341. Before asking anything, I assumed that this was a 20-something male, just by the ID.
After asking a couple of questions, this person "said" that they were an 18 year old male high school grad in Indianapolis (Indiana, I assume). We chatted for about 30 minutes, constantly being interrupted by everyone else in the group, whom we both ignored. However, I must say that I formed quite a negative impression of these people.
My impression of DOGG4341 is that of a regular "kid" who has a rough life and cannot afford to go to college. He seemed relatively intelligent and that does not seem to have been preventing him from attending at least a two year college. He stated that he was working, though which leads me to think that he had to take at least one year off of schooling. Like I said, I found him relatively pleasant, because he recognized me. He could have been a bit creepy, though. I was pretty sure about my impression in intensity, but not so much in breadth.
This makes me believe that my FIRST impression supports hyperpersonal theory. Over time my impression may change, but I certainly do not plan on keeping in contact with my "partner". I found that the nature of the assignment and the lack of cues led me to focus in on the cues that were present. I noted myself engaging in at least three of the five aspects of hyperpersonal theory. (especially selective self-presentation for myself, as I portrayed myself as my ideal self, as opposed to my actual self)
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May I ask what your chat room name was? There may have been some kind of characteristic in your chat room name that drew the individual to message you. Maybe it provided some cues to what kind of person he thought you were. Selective-self presentation seems to be frequently used and one would assume that DOGG may have been doing that to you also. Taking that into consideration, why did DOGG choose to tell you what he did if he was using selective self-presentation also? Maybe you perceived him as he wanted you to perceive him and then, does that say something about his personality, social life, or a self-image that he desires? It’s interesting that you mention the interruptions in the chat room from other users. That may have had an impact on the quality, transmission and interpretation of cues. You may have had a different impression of DOGG if you had communicated through an independent channel like a private chat or instant message. I agree with you that the lack of cues probably had a large impact on impression formation.
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