Cyberpsychology

Cyberpsychology
By
Oliver Weber
Cyberpsychology is a newly coined term which takes psychology, cyberspace and mixes them together. There is no right or wrong way to go about cyberpsychology, as long as it has its base roots within both cyberspace and psychology. This means excluding pseudo­psychology and personal bias in order to fully comprehend the human brain at its most distilled and pure form.

What IS cyberpsychology?
Psychology; The science of studying a person or groups mental patterns and/or behaviour
Cyber; Colloquial term for anything ”virtual” (Not to be confused with virtual psychology)
That is the strictest definition of cyberpsychology, but to go more in depth with it, cyberpsychology is the act of studying a person or a group of peoples psychological behaviour while faring on the internet. Cyberpsychology is a new field, and is perhaps the purest form of psychology, as the internet is a toll­free, no consequence space with virtually little to no laws. That means that on the internet, you see humanity and psychology in its purest, because there are no moral obligations to conform to any sort of normality or other kind of ”social standard”, as there would be in real life. In real life, were you to call somebody a ”stupid retard”, it would have dire consequences the majority of the time. But those rules do not apply on the internet. There are a few sub­genres within cyberpsychology, which are as follows: ● Cyber­behaviourism
● Cybermentality ● Cyberunity
● Cybersexuality
In contrast to other areas of psychology, there is no such thing as ”cybercognitivism” or
”cyberexistentialism” etcetera, as all these take base in ”reality”.
The reason it is not called ”actual psychology” or ”pure psychology” is because that would be a purely one­sided view of the abstract concept that is in fact ”cyberpsychology.” Everything you read here, is based on personal experiences and events occurring within the internet.

Cyber­behaviorism
The concept of cyber­behaviourism is, as with all else ”behaviorism” the observation and logical planning of human behaviour. The reason cyber­behaviourism differs from regular behaviourism is the fact that there are no boundaries on the internet. You can claim to be

anybody, from anywhere, doing anything in the world. Unfortunately, many people put up a self­decepting facade, claiming to be ”trolls” or of the sort, but in fact this so called ”facade” is in fact humanity in it's purest form. Letting loose all the shackles ordinary society constantly tries to conform us to obey by. This means empathy, sympathy and all­around any sort of emotional attachment to people and/or entities.

What this also means is, that many people on the internet claim to be somebody whom they are not. Many people see this as an nuisance and counter­productive, when it is in fact an open book into who these people honestly aspire to be. Putting up the facade of being a high­ranked CEO in a global corporation, displays that the person, in fact, does wish to be said CEO, but is of course not. Usually all these acts of faux intentions disappear or are unraveled as the individual matures and realises that the internet is not a place to boast about how important you are, because it is the internet and nobody has any particular interest in
YOU as a person. This is why people claim to be interesting when they, in fact, are boring ordinary normal people.

As it stands, cyber­behaviourism is a very VERY young term and subject, that requires further expansion and research, but the core concepts have been laid out.

It seems to be that most people on the internet seeks one of two things;
1. Social acceptance (As most people who spend an extraordinary time on the internet are not accepted into any social clique in actual life.) 2. Outlet for burnt­in anger, hatred or misfortune.

Cybermentality
Cybermentality is a very delicate subject, as the borders between cybermentality and basic cyberpsychology, are fairly blurred. Cybermentality is the concept of believing that spending enormous amounts of time on the internet and interacting with people across the internet is no different than actual interaction with people in the real world. The internet is not a place to make connections or friends, because next to nobody are who they say they are with few exceptions. It is also the mental illusion that people on the internet are who they say they are, at which people confide in them and befriend this ”facade”. At this point, you might be thinking; ”You said the facade was their real self, so why is this such a bad thing?” because the facade is not the REAL self, but what they aspire for their real self to be/become. Cybermentality also includes a small amount of ambition and intentions. As shown below, is the typical scenario at which Cybermentality is most present
1. False intent
2. Betrayal and manipulation

3. Social Acceptance
4. Rise to power
It is at this point somebody else starts the cycle over, and over, and over. This is almost utterly inevitable within larger cyber communities and groups that involves ranks or positions of power

Cyberunity
Cyberunity is the cyber equivalent of Groupthink.
From Wikipedia; ”
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision­making outcome.
Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.
”

In layman's term, it is a group of people, a community or a ”unity” trying to minimize and avoid most if not all conflict, by quickly conforming to a centralized set of values and/or ideas.
Cyberunity, however differs a little bit as it is more a general term. An example of cyberunity in the real world; A man has a grudge towards a woman. This man is a part of a group or community. Even though the grudge might be totally unjustified and irrational, the moment the woman tries to join the group, she might be allowed to join, but everyone agrees to give her the cold shoulder, because if they all agree everything is better, even if it has a negative outcome on the receiving end of the irrational hatred.

The reason it differs, is because in real life you can confront the person and more or less corner him/her into an answer, but on the internet it is much easier to just ignore a person/a persons viewpoint and call him/her ”a stupid troll” because to the sender, this is a quick solution to what seems like a very trivial issue, when it is, however, a morally questionable or sometimes even directly self­harming to the persons psychosocial development.

Cybersexuality
Cybersexuality is the term given to a very specific part of the online community, that is suffering from sexuality­defining issues due to their lack of outside stimulus. Cybersexuality often occurs in tightly knit communities (most commonly roleplaying based communities) that consist of character building, as the bond made here can often become very strong. Because of the lack of outside affection and approval, it is not unlikely for people in these communities to claim homo­/bi­sexuality, because that expands their field of potential relationships. In other terms; The desire to be appreciated and become emotionally unexpendable to somebody. This is in order to feel that somebody somewhere DOES, in fact, care about them. Although

they most likely have loving parents and/or siblings, the lack of social abilities make it hard to realistically achieve this in reality. However, much of this quasi­bi­/homosexuality disappears in most cases at a later age. Most likely due to real life becoming an inescapable reality.

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