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Introduction
NobodycouldprobablyhaveimaginedthattheInternetwouldgrowsoquickly
andbringsuchradicalchangetohumanlifeandthefunctioningofsociety.The
initialstepwastakennotsolongagobecausetheInternetbegantobewidely
usedinthelate1990s,whenTimBerners-LeecreatedtheHTML–asystemthat
allowedtoconnectdifferentdocumentsintoanetwork.
Apartfromtheadvantages,peoplealsobegantounderstandthedrawbacksof
computer-mediatedcommunication.Manyresearcherscarriedoutstudiesexam-
iningthequalityofCMCandonlinebehavior.Theyidentifiedtheprinciples
governinghumaninteractionwiththecomputerandtheWeb.Researchononline
behaviorandInternetitselfcontinuestoyieldmoreandmoredetailedresults
thatbringusclosertoatruepictureofcyberspace.
Therehavebeenmultipleresearchthemesinthefieldofonlinebehavior
psychology.Someofthemhavequitealongtradition(pathologicalInternetuse,
forinstance)andrequiresystematicworkforsynthesizingtheaccumulated
knowledge.Therearealsonewdirectionsofresearch,whichhaveemergedin
responsetoissuesarisingwiththerapidanddynamicdevelopmentofWebtech-
nology.Atpresent,weareactuallywitnessingtheageofsocialnetworkservices,
whichdominatethevirtualspaceandsatisfyavarietyofhumanneeds.This
makesitnecessarytostudysocialnetworkinginthepsychologicalcontext.
ItiswithgreatpleasurethatwepresenttotheReadersthisbook,entitled
InternetinPsychologicalResearch,whoseaimistoprovideanoverviewofwhat
webelievetobethemostimportantdirectionsinresearchonthepsychologyof
theInternet.Thisbranchofpsychologyseemstobedevelopingdynamically,
whichmakesthesubjectmatterofthepresentvolumeindisputablytopical.The
bookisdividedintofiveparts,namely:E-groups,PrivacyintheInternet,Prob-
lematicInternetUse,BlendedTeaching,andOnlineSurveysMethodology.
Thefirstpartofthebook,entitledE-groups,focusesontheissueofvirtual
groupsandtheirfunctions.Intheirarticle,AzyBarak,OrnaBoneh,andMichal
Dolev-Cohendiscussthesupportofferedbyonlinegroups.Theyoutlinetheorigin
ofonlinesupportgroupsaswellastheirdifferencesfromtraditional(face-to-face)
supportgroups,pointingtotheadvantagesoftheformer.Theauthorsemphasize
thebenefitsofthisnewformofassistance,e.g.emotionalsupport,theexperience
