Phone calls create stronger bonds than text-based communications

Date:
September 11, 2020
Source:
University of Texas at Austin
Summary:
New research suggests people too often opt to send email or text
messages when a phone call is more likely to produce the feelings
of connectedness they crave.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== After months of social distancing mandates, people are leaning heavily
on technology for a sense of social connection. But new research from
The University of Texas at Austin suggests people too often opt to send
email or text messages when a phone call is more likely to produce the
feelings of connectedness they crave.


==========================================================================
In the study, people chose to type because they believed a phone call
would be more awkward -- but they were wrong, said Amit Kumar, a McCombs
School of Business assistant professor of marketing, co-author with
Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago.

"People feel significantly more connected through voice-based media,
but they have these fears about awkwardness that are pushing them towards text-based media," Kumar said.

The research is online in advance in the Journal of Experimental
Psychology.

In one experiment, researchers asked 200 people to make predictions about
what it would be like to reconnect with an old friend either via email
or phone, and then they randomly assigned them to actually do it. Even
though participants intuited that a phone call would make them feel
more connected, they still said they would prefer to email because they expected calling would be too awkward.

But the phone call went much better than an email, researchers found.



========================================================================== "When it came to actual experience, people reported they did form a significantly stronger bond with their old friend on the phone versus
email, and they did not feel more awkward," Kumar said.

In another experiment, researchers randomly assigned strangers to
connect either by texting during a live chat, talking over video chat,
or talking using only audio. Participants had to ask and answer a series
of personal questions such as, "Is there something you've dreamed of
doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?" or "Can you describe a
time you cried in front of another person?" Participants didn't expect
that the media through which they communicated would matter, and in this
case they also predicted that they would feel just as connected to the
stranger via text as by phone.

But the researchers found when they really interacted, people felt significantly more connected when they communicated by talking than
by typing.

And, again, they found it wasn't more awkward to hear each other's voices.

In fact, the voice itself -- even without visual cues -- seemed to be
integral to bonding, the researchers found.

Confronting another myth about voice-based media, researchers timed participants reconnecting with their old friend. They found the call
took about the same amount of time as reading and responding to email.

The researchers said the results both reveal and challenge people's
assumptions about communication media at a time when managing
relationships via technology is especially important, Kumar said. "We're
being asked to maintain physical distance, but we still need these social
ties for our well-being -- even for our health."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Texas_at_Austin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Amit Kumar, Nicholas Epley. It's surprisingly nice to hear you:
Misunderstanding the impact of communication media can lead to
suboptimal choices of how to connect with others.. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General, 2020; DOI: 10.1037/xge0000962 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200911141713.htm

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