Intragroup Emotions: Physiological Linkage and Social Presence

Abstract

We investigated how technologically mediating two different components of emotion-communicative expression and physiological state-to group members affects physiological linkage and self-reported feelings in a small group during video viewing. In different conditions the availability of second screen text chat (communicative expression) and visualization of group level physiological heart rates and their dyadic linkage (physiology) was varied. Within this four person group two participants formed a physically co-located dyad and the other two were individually situated in two separate rooms. We found that text chat always increased heart rate synchrony but HR visualization only with non-co-located dyads. We also found that physiological linkage was strongly connected to self-reported social presence. The results encourage further exploration of the possibilities of sharing group member's physiological components of emotion by technological means to enhance mediated communication and strengthen social presence.

Keywords: emotional contagion; emotions; physiological linkage; psychophysiology; social presence.

Figure 1

The experimental setup.

Figure 2

The presentation view on the large screen when both chat and heart rate visualization are on (A) and the chat display on the mobile device (B).

Figure 3

Mean evaluations for emotional (A) and interpersonal evaluations (B,C) by chat and HR display conditions. Interpersonal evaluations are shown separately for variables measured on 5-step (B) and 7-step scales (C). Error bars refer to standard errors of the mean.

Figure 4

Mean evaluations for emotional (A) and interpersonal evaluations (B,C) by location and chat display conditions. Interpersonal evaluations are shown separately for variables measured on 5-step (B) and 7-step scales (C). Error bars refer to standard errors of the mean.

Figure 5

Mean HR cross-correlation values by location and display conditions. Display conditions are shown separately for chat and HR displays. Error bars refer to standard errors of the mean.