study of the human mind and behavior and how the culture of technology, specifically, virtual reality, and social media affect them.

1. CYBER PSYCHOLOGY Saliha Ayyoob
2nd MSc Psychology
St. Mary’s, Thrissur

2. INTRODUCTION
▪ Cyberpsychology (also known as Internet psychology, web psychology, or digital
psychology) is a developing field that encompasses all psychological phenomena
associated with or affected by emerging technology. Cyber comes from the
word cyberspace, the study of the operation of control and communication; psychology is
the study of the mind and behavior.
▪ Cyberpsychology is the study of the human mind and behavior and how the culture of
technology, specifically, virtual reality, and social media affect them.
▪ Cyber psychology deals with the study of online identities and relationships ,and how
online behaviour differs from the behaviour of individuals in the physical realm.

3. INTRODUCTION
▪ Mainstream research studies focus on the effect of the Internet and cyberspace on the
psychology of individuals and groups.
▪ Some topics include: online identity, online relationships, personality types in cyberspace,
transference to computers, addiction to computers and Internet, regressive behavior in
cyberspace, online gender-switching, etc
▪ Fully accredited cyber psychology programs are now offered in Canada, Ireland and
other areas of great Britain.

4. CYBER BULLYING & HARASSMENT
▪ Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and
tablets.
▪ Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or
gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content.
▪ Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content
about someone else.
▪ It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing
embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal
behavior.

5. CYBER ADDICTION
▪ Internet addiction is a behavioral addiction in which a person becomes dependent on use
of the Internet, or other online devices, as a maladaptive way of coping with life's stresses.
▪ At least three subtypes of Internet addiction have been identified: video game addiction,
cybersex or online sex addiction, and addiction to social networking sites, such as
Facebook, are being investigated.

6. E- THERAPY
▪ Web therapy, or “e-therapy," is the controversial approach of delivering therapeutic
counselling to patients over an online medium.
▪ Some of the conditions that can be effectively treated with online therapy include:
Addiction, Anger management, Anxiety disorders, Bipolar disorder, Depression, Eating
disorders, Interpersonal relationship conflicts.
▪ E- therapy can be an effective method for treatment for those who would not otherwise
seek out counselling
▪ E therapy is affordable, accessible and convenient.

7. HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION (HCI)
▪ Human–computer interaction (HCI) studies the design and use of computer technology,
focused on the interfaces between people (users) and computers.
▪ Researchers in the field of HCI observe the ways in which humans interact with computers
and design technologies that let humans interact with computers in novel ways.
▪ Humans interact with computers in many ways; the interface between humans and
computers is crucial to facilitate this interaction. Desktop applications, internet browsers,
handheld computers.
▪ Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field in which psychology and other
social sciences unite with computer science and related technical fields with the goal of
making computing systems that are both useful and usable.

8. HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION (HCI)
▪ HCI research has expanded beyond its roots in the cognitive processes of individual users
to include social and organizational processes involved in computer usage in real
environments as well as the use of computers in collaboration.
▪ Those who studied and worked in HCI saw it as a crucial instrument to popularize the idea
that the interaction between a computer and the user should resemble a human-to-human,
open-ended dialogue.

9. CYBER SPACE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SPACE
The new generation gap
▪ Although the media has tended to exaggerate the dangers of cyberspace for children, it
has been correct in noting the impact of the internet on the next generation: the generation
that has grown up in cyberspace.
▪ Setting aside the important issue of the socioeconomic Digital Divide, we now live in a
unique era; there are young people for whom cyberspace is the air they breathe.
▪ some older people who, for one reason or another, fell behind the curve of Internet use,
even though it was available.

10. CYBER SPACE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
SPACE
What Is Psychological Space?
▪ Psychological Space is the idea that our perception of the world affects our internal thoughts
and beliefs. If we live in a messy place, our mind may be messy; if we live in a clean place,
our mind will be clean.
▪ I want to start by saying that psychological space is not an easy concept to grasp. The
psychologists who write about it even admit this.
Types of Psychological Space
▪ John Welwood defines psychological space by dividing it into three different types of
psychological space: oriented, feeling, and open space.

11. THANKYOU Saliha Ayyoob
2nd MSc Psychology
St. Mary’s, Thrissur