Media naturalness theory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Media naturalness theory is also known as the psychobiological model. The theory was developed by Ned Kock and attempts to apply Darwinian evolutionary principles to suggest which types of computer-mediated communication will best fit innate human communication capabilities. Media naturalness theory argues that natural selection has resulted in face-to-face communication becoming the most effective way for two people to exchange information.
The theory has been applied to human communication outcomes in various contexts, such as: education,[1] knowledge transfer,[2] communication in virtual environments,[3] e-negotiation,[4] business process improvement,[5] trust and leadership in virtual teamwork,[6] online learning,[7][8] maintenance of distributed relationships,[9] performance in experimental tasks using various media,[10][11] and modular production.[12] Its development is also consistent with ideas from the field of evolutionary psychology.[13]
The media naturalness theory builds on the media richness theory's arguments that face-to-face interaction is the richest type of communication medium[14] by providing an evolutionary explanation for the face-to-face medium's degree of richness.[13] Media naturalness theory argues that since ancient hominins communicated primarily face-to-face, evolutionary pressures since that time have led to the development of a brain that is consequently adapted for that form of communication.[13][15] Kock points out that computer-mediated communication is far too recent a phenomenon to have had the time necessary to shape human cognition and language capabilities via natural selection.[13] In turn, Kock argues that using communication media that suppress key elements found in face-to-face communication, as many electronic communication media do, ends up posing cognitive obstacles to communication, and particularly in the case of complex tasks (e.g., business process redesign, new product development, online learning), because such tasks seem to require more intense communication over extended periods of time than simple tasks.[13]