Tech | January 03, 2009 | 21 comments

Psychologist finds Wikipedians grumpy and closed-minded

source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16349-psychologist-finds-wikipedians-grumpy-and-closed...

Image
mischabarrett
What persuades people to add articles to Wikipedia? Maybe a psychological profile of Wiki contributors measuring openness to experience and ideas, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism can give us some clues. An Israeli researcher has concluded from the study that Wiki participants are driven by the need to find a voice on the internet rather than in the 'real world'.

"People who prefer online social behaviour tend to have higher levels of social anxiety and lower social skills", comments Scott Caplan of the University of Delaware, adding that heavy users of sites such like Digg and Twitter probably have similar characteristics.
  1. groups:
    News and Politics,   Tech,   Current News UK,   Psychology
  2. tags:
    News and Politics,  Tech,  Current News UK,  World,  5 more
  3.     
    |

21 comments // Psychologist finds Wikipedians grumpy and closed-minded

  • ejasun
    • 0
      ejasun  

    • Make A mistake and you are sent to the SANDBOX

      Can you Say

      [kon-duh-sen-ding]  

      showing or implying a usually patronizing descent from dignity or superiority: They resented the older neighbors' condescending cordiality.
      Origin:

    • 3 years ago
  • AnnieMole
    • 0
      AnnieMole  

    • I'm with DeliaTheArtist on this. Firstly a sample of 70 people is hardly representative and "People who prefer online social behaviour tend to have higher levels of social anxiety and lower social skills" is complete rubbish and applies to any form of online activity & not just people who contribute to Wikipedia

      Just because you contribute to sites like Wikipedia & as Delia says Current for that matter, doesn't mean you lack social skills. You could have another study of 70 people and find the complete opposite in that, people who contribute to social sites are far more social than people who don't.

    • 3 years ago
  • nazbags
    • 0
      nazbags  

    • I've actually always wondered who sits down and adds information to wikipedia; I know tons who use it but none who contribute

    • 3 years ago
  • rippelhans
    • 0
      rippelhans  
    • nazbags:

      Same here. Well I have edited on rare occasions.

      I was thinking of contributing to one page that is related to something I know a lot about. And monitor future changes. Just haven't got around to do it yet.

    • 3 years ago
  • retran
    • 0
      retran  

    • Reminds me of all the studies produced prior to the late 70s that found "homosexuals" to be more likely to lead unhappy lives, more likely to be addicted to drugs, etc.

      Designing a study (inadvertently or not) that chases a stereotype, predisposed to come up with a certain conclusion. Eventually more studies will float to the surface to pinpoint what's really going on here.

    • 3 years ago
  • Owwmykneecap
    • 0
      Owwmykneecap  
    • retran:

      homosexuality is not a stereotype.

      faggots/fairies, bears, dykes etc are stereotypes associated with homosexuality.

      Being part of a minority, often not accepted by society, especially 30 years ago could easily lead a higher proportion of a group to be unhappy.

      people having to hide big parts their lives usually have a deep unhappiness within.

    • 3 years ago
  • asherp
    • 0
      asherp  

    • Wait a minute, anti-social misanthropes use the internet to compensate for their lack of social skills?

      WHO KNEW?!

    • 3 years ago
  • footystud
  • mojojuju
  • mischabarrett
  • maxamust
  • rippelhans
    • 0
      rippelhans  

    • Interesting study. I hope more are to come along the same lines. But even if we assume that study to be sound, it really doesn't mean that the same applies to Current users. From what I can tell the generalizability has not yet been established. Different sites may attract different users and I can imagine the differences to have a wide spectrum.

    • 3 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  
    • rippelhans:

      "But even if we assume that study to be sound, it really doesn't mean that the same applies to Current users. From what I can tell the generalizability has not yet been established."- Well, Digg is very much like Current and in a way Wikipedia is as well- a place where users post the information and claim the glory of doing so. I think Current would definitely perpetuate the same type of mentality and ego.

      I mean, all in all this "study" sounds like a load of hooey, so I'm just arguing for arguments sake at this point. I don't think there's any way to say "most people on the internet are (whatever)"- the world is too diverse and with billions of people coming and going each day, I wonder how they could ever really nail down a statistic or study group that would give them accurate results.

    • 3 years ago
  • rippelhans
  • DeliaTheArtist
  • crazy_french
  • 4free
  • retran
  • mojojuju
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  

    • This article is weird for a few reasons:
      "a team of psychologists surveyed 69 Israeli contributors to the popular online encyclopedia, comparing them with a sample of 70 students matched for age and intensity of internet use." So who does this "finding" target- just the Israeli contributors?

      "heavy users of sites such as Digg and Twitter may have similar characteristics. "People who prefer online social behaviour tend to have higher levels of social anxiety and lower social skills," he says."
      Let's realize that "sites such as" would put all us CURRENTERS in this category!

      Personally I do not have "low social skills". I'm a people person who loves socializing and public speaking but also likes contributing to online sites like Current and Twitter. Not to mention that I'm trying to expand my "internet presence" as an artist, but I wouldn't say that everything I do is about ego as this article would suggest.

      In any event, I think it's good that people who are afraid to socialize or have anxiety about it are able to communicate with the world despite that!

    • 3 years ago
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos