In today’s world, when communication is required, presence often is not. Whether meeting personally or professionally, virtual technologies present an easy, cost-efficient option. This is particularly true when people are teleworking or geographically separated.
But at what expense? When the stakes are high, credibility is key, or building rapport is an important goal, electronic communication often misses the mark. Research explains.
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A Zoom Room is Not a Conference Room
Nan Zhao et al. (2023) compared meetings in person with those on Zoom. [i] They compared neural activity occurring during two conditions of live interaction, both “face-to-face”; one condition took place in person and the other on Zoom.
They found that in-person conversations resulted in a higher amount of neural activity, arousal, and overall greater engagement. Specifically, their use of behavioral eye-tracking measures revealed that interaction partners visually dwell longer on a real face; increased arousal was indicated by increased pupil diameters. Zhao et al. conclude that the interpersonal exchange of social cues is higher when interacting in person than online.
This was true even for familiar conversation partners. In their experiment, Zhao et al. accounted for many relevant social factors including familiarity, prior experience, and associations. This was possible because they used the same partners for both conditions (in-person and online); thus, the faces in both conditions were different only with respect to the physical presence of the face during the interaction.
Why Did Real-Life Conversations Come Out Ahead?
Zhao et al. note that the detection of facial micromovements might be more difficult in a virtual setting. They consider that dynamic social cues that occur in person through interacting with live faces are not replicated virtually. They cite shorter dwell times with virtual communication as potential evidence that less information was conveyed visually.
The authors also recognize the very practical reality that due to camera angles, virtual communication is not really “face-to-face.” In most cases, they note that current webcam technology does not facilitate looking directly at a conversation partner and the screen simultaneously, which causes direct line-of-sight interaction to be compromised.
Presence is Better in Person
Overall, these findings suggest that in circumstances where the goal is to build rapport, increase intimacy, or deepen a relationship, in-person communication might be a better option. We can imagine that as a practical matter, any type of communication that is important, confidential, or is expected to include a discussion of sensitive information is better done in person, even between people who know each other well.
Overcoming the post-pandemic practice of initiating a conversation by sending a Zoom link instead of meeting for coffee or a walk is important both personally and professionally. To maximize bonding and relational maintenance (assuming, of course, that conversation partners are geographically nearby), take advantage of proximity by meeting in person.
Personal presence and shared experience facilitate chemistry, compatibility, credibility, and companionship. Perhaps we already know this instinctively—many organizations, for example, still choose to conduct their most important meetings in person.
Going forward, whether you’re proposing marriage or offering an employee a promotion, it might be worth making the effort to be in each other’s presence. As these findings suggest, life is best celebrated in person.
Source link : https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/why-bad-looks-good/202410/beyond-zoom-how-meeting-in-person-creates-connection
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Publish date : 2024-10-13 20:45:07
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