Project description

With the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many meetings in personal, educational, and professional contexts have been moved to the virtual realm. In a series of experiments and survey studies, this project aimed at identifying and better understanding both effects and success factors of virtual meetings. One primary focus of the investigations was individual camera use and its positive and negative effects.

In a world with increasing mobility, videoconferencing platforms seem to be a great way to build and maintain social closeness with others who are physically distant – whether they are family and friends, fellow distance learning students, or remote colleagues. Indeed, when the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began to place severe restrictions on in-person meetings in early 2020, videoconferencing platforms showed a never-before seen spike in user activity. This rapid adoption illustrates how important it is for humans to connect in ways that allow them to see others.
However, people frequently decide to keep their cameras turned off during these meetings. It was not well understood what motivates individuals to turn their cameras on or off and what the effects of turning one’s camera on or off were on one’s own and others’ meeting outcomes (e.g., meeting satisfaction, motivation, learning, and feelings of social connectedness). A combination of experiments and survey studies have been conducted to better understand the potential positive and negative effects videoconferences have in daily life, education, and work contexts. Furthermore, factors that may improve videoconferencing outcomes have been investigated. The findings indicate that camera use in video conferences has prosocial effects, benefiting others, but it is not mainly driven by prosocial intentions or typically seen as a prosocial action. Additionally, the results suggest that individual factors such as networking tendencies, social anxiety, and social norms independently affect active behavior during video conferences. Ultimately, the findings may help understand better how communication media should be designed and how virtual meetings should be organized to optimize their outcomes.