Since face-to-face meetings became telematic, at the beginning of the pandemic, these have become a new professional routine: more than 200 million people met each day on Zoom during the month of March 2020. The first impression that generated by a person in these digital meetings is not the same as that of a face-to-face meeting: the background of a video call, facial expression and gender are factors that influence the perception of how trustworthy and competent someone can be through the screen, according to a study just published by the magazine PLOS ONE.
“First impressions are significantly affected by contextual visual factors, so the video background could differentially influence first impression evaluations compared to in-person meetings,” the study reveals. Therefore, if the virtual appearance in a Zoom or Teams meeting is considered “more important than clothing,” the background of a video call is characterized as the new business suit. In job interviews, 97% of job applicants consider themselves more competent for coming dressed formally and thus conveying capacity, maturity and success.
In the study, carried out by researchers at the University of Durham (United Kingdom), the 167 participants assessed the perception of trust and competence of their colleagues, taking into account some variables. During the fictitious video calls, they were able to observe their male and female faces with happy and neutral expressions, superimposed on six virtual backgrounds: some houseplants, a bookshelf, a living room, a blurred version of a living room, a blank wall, and a novel background (for example, an image downloaded from the Internet).
Faces with a bookshelf in the background gained more confidence and competence points. This is due to the positive relationship between literacy and intelligence, and reading and economic performance, according to the study’s authors. José Antonio Tamayo, health psychologist at Activa Psicología, invokes the “halo effect” to try to explain this result: “It is the tendency to associate, in our judgments about other people, places, objects or situations, certain positive characteristics with other positive ones, too. without there being an empirical foundation that demonstrates such a relationship. In the case of decoration, even if it is virtual, it influences the formation of first impressions and it could be that books are associated with culture and intelligence.”
Homemade funds also arouse some curiosity on the networks. The Twitter user Room Rater (room evaluator, in English), with more than 387,000 followers, is dedicated to rating from 1 to 10 the virtual backgrounds of the experts who appear in the video calls of American television channels. In his publications, he sarcastically criticizes the objects that appear in the videos. An example of this is the comment on the video call of Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of Michigan (USA) with the MSNBC network: “Good setup from a law professor. Travel posters are art. Teddy bear. Minor infraction with the cloth bag. 9/10″.
Faces with plants in the background were rated trustworthy because of humans’ connection to the natural environment. Pepe Cosín, dean of the College of Interior Designers of the Valencian Community (CDICV), supports that a space with plants is more reliable, since “plants connect us with nature, and transmit serenity and confidence.”
Viewing other people’s houses in a work context is considered “unprofessional,” according to the study, and that is why participants rated the background in which a living room appeared lower. Video conferences recorded from a bedroom have also been considered less professional than a home office environment. Tamayo compares it to the effect of going to work in lounge clothes. Blurred, novel or blank backgrounds were also not successful because they were considered “unreliable.”
Women’s faces, more reliable
Facial expressions, as part of non-verbal language, are important in video calls for transmitting valuable information about the feelings and intentions of others, as the study reveals. A happy person is more likely to make a good impression and be more trustworthy. Smiling indicates confidence and self-esteem, and therefore reveals greater capacity for action and competence.
Women’s faces, regardless of the background they use, are perceived in the study as more trustworthy and more competent. Furthermore, the confidence that the woman exudes counteracts the negative results of a homemade or blurry background. However, the same is not true for men: judgments of confidence and competence have no effect on the substance and, therefore, they should be more aware of that.
In conclusion, to give a better impression to the interlocutor, the study recommends putting a shelf of books or plants in the background during video conferences. He also suggests avoiding homemade backgrounds (even if they are blurry) and artificial ones, and having a smiling attitude during video calls. In 2024, when Covid restrictions will only be a distant memory, it is expected that 75% of business meetings will continue to be held by videoconference: to succeed, at least visually, it will be better to have a person behind the chair. library and a cactus.
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