Online support groups have become a familiar feature of the Internets landscape. The ability of computer-mediated communication to provide support effectively remains an open question, and this book provides a much needed understanding of the kinds of social support in an online support group.

Online support groups have become a familiar feature of the Internets landscape. The ability of computer-mediated communication to provide support effectively remains an open question, and this book provides a much needed understanding of the kinds of social support in an online support group.

Social Support and Health in the Digital Age discusses how theinformation age has revolutionized nearly every facet of human communication—from the ways in which people purchase products to how they meet and fall in love. These exciting new communication technologies can both unite and divide us. People who are separated by great distances can now communicate with each other in real time, whereas parents often find themselves competing with smartphones and tablets for their children’s attention. This book explores the many ways that digital communication media, such as online forums, social networking sites, and mobile applications, enhance and constrain social support in health-related contexts. We already know a great deal about how the Internet has altered how people search for health information, but less about how people seek and receive social support in this new age of information, which is critical for maintaining our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

"This book provides interdisciplinary perspectives utilizing a variety of research methods to uncover the fundamental components of computer-mediated communication (i.e., language, interpersonal relations/communication and information technology) which will be discussed in the following section"--Provided by publisher.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction, held in College Park, MD, USA, in April 2012. The 43 revised papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 76 submissions. The papers cover a wide range of topics including economics, public health, and terrorist activities, as well as utilize a broad variety of methodologies, e.g., machine learning, cultural modeling and cognitive modeling.

The well-received first edition of the Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2007, 2 vols) established itself in the academic library market as a landmark reference that presents a thorough overview of this cross-disciplinary field for students, researchers, and professionals in the areas of psychology, business, management, and human resources. Nearly ten years later, SAGE presents a thorough revision that both updates current entries and expands the overall coverage, adding approximately 200 new articles, expanding from two volumes to four. Examining key themes and topics from within this dynamic and expanding field of psychology, this work offers a truly cross-cultural and global perspective.

Using a novel approach to consider the available literature and research, this book focuses on the psychology of social media based on the assumption that the experience of being in a social media has an impact on both our identity and social relationships. In order to ‘be online’, an individual has to create an online presence – they have to share information about themselves online. This online self is presented in different ways, with diverse goals and aims in order to engage in different social media activities and to achieve desired outcomes. Whilst this may not be a real physical presence, that physicality is becoming increasingly replicated through photos, video, and ever-evolving ways of defining and describing the self online. Moreover, individuals are using both PC-based and mobile-based social media as well as increasingly making use of photo and video editing tools to carefully craft and manipulate their online self. This book therefore explores current debates in Cyberpsychology, drawing on the most up-to-date theories and research to explore four main aspects of the social media experience (communication, identity, presence and relationships). In doing so, it considers the interplay of different areas of psychological research with current technological and security insight into how individuals create, manipulate and maintain their online identity and relationships. The social media are therefore at the core of every chapter, with the common thread throughout being the very unique approach to considering diverse and varied online behaviours that may not have been thus far considered from this perspective. It covers a broad range of both positive and negative behaviours that have now become integrated into the daily lives of many westernised country’s Internet users, giving it an appeal to both scholarly and industry readers alike.