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 Here are words of comfort for anyone who has spent more time than he should in online chat rooms -- a British psychologist has found that courtships begun in cyberspace can very well lead to true love.
Many "virtual" relationships thrive once potential partners meet face-to-face because they already know each other so well through their online encounters, said Jeffrey Gavin, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Bath.
"Chat rooms don't lead to shallow and impersonal relationships," Gavin said in an interview. "They lead to really close relationships because people express themselves more freely and are more open and honest on the Internet."
Gavin carried out in-depth interviews with 42 regular chat room users aged 19 to 26 years. Of the volunteers he studied, 29 reported close friendships or romantic relationships with people they met online, with 21 progressing to face-to-face meetings. One couple became engaged to be married.
"What tends to happen is that, when they meet, it's a fairly smooth transition from online to offline because they know each other so well," said Gavin, who presented his findings to the annual conference of the British Psychological Society (BPS) in Blackpool on Friday.
"Online, guys can be more emotionally honest and open, while women can be more overtly sexual."
His research also showed that most chat room users tell a few white lies about their height or the color of their hair. But in most cases they were minor misrepresentations rather than outright fabrication.
"They still seem to comply to the social norms around the body," said Gavin. "So the guys tend to make themselves sound blond and blue-eyed, while the women add a bit of blond to their hair or increase their bust size slightly.
"It's true, twelve of them told outright lies but the rest just exaggerated slightly."
(Agencies)
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英國一位心理學家最近發現網上戀情很有可能發展成為真愛，這則消息格外迎合那些成天泡在網上聊天室里的網友們的心理。
英國巴斯大學的心理學講師杰弗里·加文說，許多網友通過在網上的接觸彼此已經十分了解了，因此當他們在現實生活中見面時，他們在網絡空間的"虛擬"關系往往會得到很順利的發展。
加文在接受采訪時說："網友們在聊天室里建立起來的關系并非人們想象的那樣膚淺、沒有任何感情投入。相反，由于人們在網絡空間中表達自己的時候會比平時更加坦白、誠實、無拘無束，因此網友們之間往往可以建立起很親密的關系。"
加文對42名年齡從19到26歲的聊天室常客進行了深度采訪。在這些自愿被訪者中，29人和網友有著親密的朋友關系或者網戀的經歷，其中21人正計劃和網友見面。還有一對網友如今已經結為夫妻。
3月15日在英國布來克浦舉行的英國心理學學會（British Psychological Society）的年會上加文對自己的這一研究結果作了陳述。他說："多數情況下，當網友們第一次見面時，他們能夠很自然的由網上的角色過渡到現實生活中的真實角色，因為他們彼此已經十分熟悉了。"
他還說："在網上，男人在情感上會更加坦誠，而女人們在討論兩性問題的時候也不再遮遮掩掩。"
 加文在研究結果中還說多數網上聊天者在介紹自己的身高或者頭發顏色時都會耍一些小小的"伎倆"，撒一些善意的謊言。但多數情況下，這些謊言只是同實際情況稍有不符，而并非完全的捏造。
加文說："他們這么做還是希望自己的外表能夠符合世俗的標準。所以男士在向網友介紹自己的時候，往往把自己形容成金發碧眼的人，女性網友則把自己說成是一位金發女郎或者將自己的胸圍稍稍夸大一點。"
"當然，在這些被訪者中還是有12個人在網上所說的話完全是捏造的，而其余被訪者只是將事實夸大了一點點。"
(中國日報網站譯)
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Updated: 2002-03-20 01:00
