The Psychology of the Internet

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.

Patricia Wallace is an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland University College's Graduate School and former Senior Director of CTYOnline and Information Technology at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. She is the author of thirteen books, including The Internet in the Workplace: How New Technology Is Transforming Work (Cambridge, 2004).