Physiological changes during first encounters and their role in determining the perceived interaction
quality
What determines if the first interaction between strangers will be a pleasant experience? We conducted an
experiment to investigate the extent to which the perceived quality of an interaction is influenced by conversation content and
context, and we document the physiological changes that are likely to play a role in establishing rapport. Females who did not
know each other met in pairs and conducted a gossip- or creativity task, either face-to-face or online. The conversation content
had no effect on the quality of online interactions. However in the face-to-face condition gossip was associated with better
interaction quality. Tonic electrodermal activity steadily declined throughout the interaction, while phasic electrodermal
activity first peaked and then returned to baseline. Neither were related to perceived interaction quality. Heart rate variability
(HRV) dropped at first but then remained stable. A smaller drop in HRV drop corresponded to higher ratings of rapport and liking.
Together these results suggest that gossip can improve the quality of a face-to-face interaction between strangers, and support
the conjecture that parasympathetic activity is a marker of human openness to social engagement.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1The influence of context and content on social interaction quality
- 1.2Peripheral physiology and interaction quality
- 1.2.1Parasympathetic activity and interaction quality
- 1.2.2Sympathetic activity and interaction quality
- 1.2.3Peripheral oxytocin and interaction quality
- 1.3Peripheral physiology mediates the relation between the properties of an interaction and the reported quality of that interaction
- 2.Materials and methods
- 2.1Design
- 2.2Participants
- 2.3Procedure
- 2.4Measuring interaction quality
- 2.5Physiological measurements
- 2.6Variables
- 3.Results
- 3.1The effect of context and content on interaction quality (Hypotheses 1 & 2)
- 3.2Changes in physiology as a result of the social interaction
- 3.3Correlations between physiological variables and interaction quality (Hypotheses 3–5)
- 3.4Mediation analysis (Hypothesis 6)
- 4.Discussion
-
References
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