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Eye contact matters: exploring its influence on interpersonal comfort and self-disclosure in virtual interactions.

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Title: Eye contact matters: exploring its influence on interpersonal comfort and self-disclosure in virtual interactions.
Authors: Fitzpatrick, Julia A. (AUTHOR), Tickle, Jennifer J. (AUTHOR)
Source: Counselling Psychology Quarterly. Dec2025, Vol. 38 Issue 4, p617-635. 19p.
Subjects: Self-evaluation, Pearson correlation (Statistics), Asian Americans, Cronbach's alpha, Data analysis, Hispanic Americans, Descriptive statistics, Nonbinary people, White people, Telepsychology, Experimental design, Telemedicine, Trust, Research, Cisgender people, One-way analysis of variance, Statistics, Interpersonal relations, Human comfort, Comparative studies, Psychology of college students, Self-disclosure, Eye movements
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased number of individuals receiving mental health services via telehealth necessitating further examination of potential factors that influence the therapeutic relationship between online clients and providers. In virtual settings, eye contact may be particularly important in the establishment of trust and to subsequent levels of self-disclosure. This study used an experimental manipulation of eye contact (low, medium, or high eye contact by the experimenter which would affect the potential for mutual eye contact) to examine whether differences in eye contact received would affect interpersonal comfort and self-disclosure in a semi-scripted virtual interpersonal interaction. Participants in the high eye contact condition felt significantly more comfortable sharing answers with their interaction partner and felt more comfortable generally with their interaction partner compared to those who received lower levels of eye contact. Level of eye contact received did not significantly affect how much participants self-disclosed to their interaction partner; however, overall levels of comfort did correlate with higher levels of self-disclosure in the transcripts. These findings suggest that eye contact may affect the rapport and trust individuals develop when sharing personal information online and underscores the value of further examining the ways therapists might attend to eye contact to increase the efficacy of teletherapy sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Counselling Psychology Quarterly is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Eye contact matters: exploring its influence on interpersonal comfort and self-disclosure in virtual interactions.
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  Data: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased number of individuals receiving mental health services via telehealth necessitating further examination of potential factors that influence the therapeutic relationship between online clients and providers. In virtual settings, eye contact may be particularly important in the establishment of trust and to subsequent levels of self-disclosure. This study used an experimental manipulation of eye contact (low, medium, or high eye contact by the experimenter which would affect the potential for mutual eye contact) to examine whether differences in eye contact received would affect interpersonal comfort and self-disclosure in a semi-scripted virtual interpersonal interaction. Participants in the high eye contact condition felt significantly more comfortable sharing answers with their interaction partner and felt more comfortable generally with their interaction partner compared to those who received lower levels of eye contact. Level of eye contact received did not significantly affect how much participants self-disclosed to their interaction partner; however, overall levels of comfort did correlate with higher levels of self-disclosure in the transcripts. These findings suggest that eye contact may affect the rapport and trust individuals develop when sharing personal information online and underscores the value of further examining the ways therapists might attend to eye contact to increase the efficacy of teletherapy sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Counselling Psychology Quarterly is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=pbh&AN=189365876
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/09515070.2024.2436964
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 19
        StartPage: 617
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Self-evaluation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Pearson correlation (Statistics)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Asian Americans
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cronbach's alpha
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Data analysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Hispanic Americans
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Nonbinary people
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: White people
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Telepsychology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Experimental design
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Telemedicine
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Trust
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cisgender people
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: One-way analysis of variance
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Statistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Interpersonal relations
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Human comfort
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Comparative studies
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychology of college students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Self-disclosure
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Eye movements
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Eye contact matters: exploring its influence on interpersonal comfort and self-disclosure in virtual interactions.
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              Text: Dec2025
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              Y: 2025
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