Nonverbal immediacy cues and impression formation in video therapy
Date
2022-08-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Counselling Psychology Quarterly
Abstract
The increased use of video-mediated communication (VMC) due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread acceptance of mediated healthcare appointments. Mental health care is one area in which researchers might examine the effects of VMC. Therefore, the current study employed an experiment to test the relative influence of video therapists’ eye contact and gesture on a patient. Each participant was assigned to one of the four possible video conditions using a 2 (Gestures present versus absent) x 2 (Eye contact present versus absent) factorial design. Study participants (n= 359) rated actors portraying themselves as video therapists on items related to impression formation (i.e. likable, warm, understanding). Findings suggest that participants in the eye contact condition reported more positive impressions than in the no eye contact condition. Similarly, participants in the gesture condition reported more positive impressions than in the no gesture condition. However, gestures had a larger effect on impression formation than eye contact, and there was no interaction effect considering the combined impact of gestures and eye contact. These results contribute to understanding how nonverbal cues impact health outcomes in VMC.
Description
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Counselling Psychology Quarterly on 08/01/2022, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09515070.2022.2105816. This article will be embargoed until 08/01/2023.
Keywords
nonverbal immediacy, eye contact, gestures, impression formation, video therapy
Citation
Emily Pfender & Scott Caplan (2022) Nonverbal immediacy cues and impression formation in video therapy, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/09515070.2022.2105816