Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2024 May 31;14(1):12056. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60371-5.
During the pandemic, digital communication became paramount. Due to the discrepancy between the placement of the camera and the screen in typical smartphones, tablets and laptops, mutual eye contact cannot be made in standard video communication. Although the positive effect of eye contact in traditional communication has been well-documented, its role in virtual contexts remains less explored. In this study, we conducted experiments to gauge the impact of gaze direction during a simulated online job interview. Twelve university students were recruited as interviewees. The interview consisted of two recording sessions where they delivered the same prepared speech: in the first session, they faced the camera, and in the second, they directed their gaze towards the screen. Based on the recorded videos, we created three stimuli: one where the interviewee's gaze was directed at the camera (CAM), one where the interviewee's gaze was skewed downward (SKW), and a voice-only stimulus without camera recordings (VO). Thirty-eight full-time workers participated in the study and evaluated the stimuli. The results revealed that the SKW condition garnered significantly less favorable evaluations than the CAM condition and the VO condition. Moreover, a secondary analysis indicated a potential gender bias in evaluations: the female evaluators evaluated the interviewees of SKW condition more harshly than the male evaluators did, and the difference in some evaluation criteria between the CAM and SKW conditions was larger for the female interviewees than for the male interviewees. Our findings emphasize the significance of gaze direction and potential gender biases in online interactions.
在疫情期间，数字通信变得至关重要。由于典型智能手机、平板电脑和笔记本电脑中摄像头和屏幕的位置差异，标准视频通信中无法进行眼神交流。尽管眼神交流在传统沟通中的积极作用已得到充分证明，但在虚拟环境中其作用仍较少被探索。在这项研究中，我们进行了实验，以衡量在模拟在线工作面试中注视方向的影响。十二名大学生被招募为受访者。面试由两个录制阶段组成，他们在每个阶段都说相同的准备好的演讲：在第一阶段，他们面对摄像头，在第二阶段，他们将目光投向屏幕。根据录制的视频，我们创建了三个刺激物：一个是受访者的目光注视着摄像头（CAM），一个是受访者的目光向下倾斜（SKW），一个是没有摄像头录制的仅声音刺激物（VO）。三十八名全职员工参与了研究并对刺激物进行了评估。结果表明，SKW 条件比 CAM 条件和 VO 条件获得的评价明显差。此外，二次分析表明评估中存在潜在的性别偏见：女性评估者对 SKW 条件下的受访者的评价比男性评估者更严厉，CAM 和 SKW 条件之间一些评估标准的差异对于女性受访者来说比男性受访者更大。我们的研究结果强调了在线交互中注视方向和潜在性别偏见的重要性。
