The previous edition provided the first resource for examining how the Internet affects our definition of who we are and our communication and work patterns. It examined how normal behavior differs from the pathological with respect to Internet use. Coverage includes how the internet is used in our social patterns: work, dating, meeting people of similar interests, how we use it to conduct business, how the Internet is used for learning, children and the Internet, what our internet use says about ourselves, and the philosophical ramifications of internet use on our definitions of reality and consciousness. Since its publication in 1998, a slew of other books on the topic have emerged, many speaking solely to internet addiction, learning on the web, or telehealth. There are few competitors that discuss the breadth of impact the internet has had on intrpersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal psychology. Key Features * Provides the first resource for looking at how the Internet affects our definition of who we are * Examines the philosophical ramifications of Internet use and our definitions of self, reality, and work * Explores how the Internet is used to meet new friends and love interests, as well as to conduct business * Discusses what represents normal behavior with respect to Internet use. Read more... Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. The Internet in Context -- Part I Intrapersonal -- 2. Children and the Internet -- 3. Self Online: Personality and Demogrpahic Implications -- 4. Disinhibition and the Internet -- 5. The Psychology of Sex: A Mirror from the Internet -- 6. Internet Addiction: Does it Really Exist? (Revisited) -- Part II Interpersonal -- 7. Revisiting Computer--Mediated Communication for Work, Community, and Learning -- 8. The Virtual Society: Its Driving Forces, Arrangements, Practices and Implications -- 9. Internet Self-Help and Support Groups: The Pros and Cons of Text-Based Mutual Aid -- 10. Cyber Shrinks: Expanding the Paradigm -- Part III Transpersonal -- 11. From Mediatred Environments to the Development of Consciousness II -- 12. World Wide Brain: Self-Organizing Internet Intelligence as the Actualization of the Collective Unconscious -- 13. The Internet and Higher States of Consciousness--A Transpersonal Perspective -- Index. Introduction to psychological aspects of Internet use / Jayne Gackenbach and Evelyn Ellerman -- The intrapersonal : statistically "normal" and "deviant" aspects of the self -- The self and the Internet : variations on the illusion of one self / Elizabeth Reid -- Causes and implications of disinhibited behavior on the Internet / Adam Joinson -- Internet addiction : does it really exist? / Mark Griffiths -- Internet therapy and self-help groups : the pros and cons / Storm A. King and Danielle Moreggi -- Future clinical directions : professional development, pathology, and psychotherapy on-line / John M. Grohol -- The interpersonal : from close to distant relationships -- The psychology of sex : a mirror from the Internet / Raymond J. Noonan -- Males, females, and the Internet / Janet Morahan-Martin -- Work and community via computer-mediated communication / Caroline Haythornthwaite, Barry Wellman, and Laura Garton -- Virtual societies : their prospects and dilemmas / Magid Igbaria, Conrad Shayo, and Lorne Olfman -- The transpersonal : on the net and the net itself -- From mediated environments to the development of consciousness / Joan M. Preston -- World wide brain : self-organizing Internet intelligence as the actualization of the collective unconscious / Ben Goertzel -- The coevolution of technology and consciousness / Jayne Gackenbach, Greg Guthrie, and Jim Karpen