More Than Just Gaze: An Experimental Vignette Study Examining How Phone-Gazing and Newspaper-Gazing and Phubbing-While-Speaking and Phubbing-While-Listening Compare in Their Effect on Affiliation
Vanden Abeele,Mariek M. P. Postma-Nilsenova,Marie
Vanden Abeele,Mariek M. P.
Postma-Nilsenova,Marie
Abstract
Gaze direction is a cue that regulates feelings of affiliation in social interactions. Phubbing research suggests that phone-gazing during a copresent interaction hampers the development of affiliation in interactions by signaling that one is not fully attentive. Because the phone represents the "virtual other," phone-gazing may be more detrimental than gazing at another object. This experimental vignette study explores whether phone-gazing during a conversation harms affiliation more than newspaper-gazing. Additionally, it examines whether the harmful impact of phubbing can be mitigated or aggravated by the phone gazer's interlocutor role-namely, that of speaker versus listener. The results reveal that phone-gazing during an interaction harms affiliation more than newspaper-gazing. Also, phone-gazing hampers affiliation more while listening than while speaking. These findings suggest that phone-gazing incurs unique judgments of relational devaluation in the interaction partner. The activation of these judgments, however, is contingent upon interlocutor role.
Description
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Affiliation, Gaze, Mobile Phone, Nonverbal Behavior, Phubbing, Vignette Study, QUALITY, CONVERSATION, DISTANCE, DEVICES, MODEL
Citation
Vanden Abeele, M M P & Postma-Nilsenova, M 2018, 'More Than Just Gaze : An Experimental Vignette Study Examining How Phone-Gazing and Newspaper-Gazing and Phubbing-While-Speaking and Phubbing-While-Listening Compare in Their Effect on Affiliation', Communication research reports, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 303-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2018.1492911