research-article

Hide and Seek: Choices of Virtual Backgrounds in Video Chats and Their Effects on Perception

Authors:

Angel Hsing-Chi Hwang,

Cheng Yao Wang,

Andrea Stevenson WonAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 5, Issue CSCW2

Article No.: 303, Pages 1 - 30

https://doi.org/10.1145/3476044

Published: 18 October 2021 Publication History

Abstract

In two studies, we investigate how users choose virtual backgrounds and how these backgrounds influence viewers' impressions. In Study 1, we created a web prototype allowing users to apply different virtual backgrounds to their camera views and asked users to select backgrounds that they believed would change viewers' perceptions of their personality traits. In Study 2, we then applied virtual backgrounds picked by participants in Study 1 to a subset of videos drawn from the First Impression Dataset. We then ran a series of three online experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to compare participants' personality trait ratings for subjects (1) with the selected virtual backgrounds, (2) with the original video backgrounds, and (3) with a gray screen as a background. The selected virtual backgrounds did not change the personality trait ratings in the intended direction. Instead, virtual background use of any kind results in a consistent "muting effect" that mitigates very high or low ratings (i.e., compressing ratings to the mean level) compared to the ratings of the video with the original background.

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Cited By

Li BZhang H(2024)Exploring the links between type and content of virtual background use during videoconferencing and videoconference fatigueFrontiers in Psychology10.3389/fpsyg.2024.140848115Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1408481
Sun CJin JNainar K(2024)Impression management in a crisis: A conceptual framework of listed firms during the COVID-19 pandemicCorporate Ownership and Control10.22495/cocv21i2art921:2(114-120)Online publication date: 23-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv21i2art9
Cashman THutton Tde La Gorce MTakács TCriminisi AĐorđević MDubajić GMarjanović ĐOkošanović MRanković VRazumenić IRoško BŠarkić TSkakun MStojanović MVeličković NJovanović PPanda PTankelevitch LRintel S(2024)An Equal Seat at the Table: Exploring Videoconferencing with Shared Spatial Context combined with 3D Video RepresentationsExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650903(1-9)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650903
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Index Terms

Hide and Seek: Choices of Virtual Backgrounds in Video Chats and Their Effects on Perception
1. Computer systems organization
  1. Dependable and fault-tolerant systems and networks
    1. Redundancy
  2. Embedded and cyber-physical systems
    1. Embedded systems
    2. Robotics
2. Networks
  1. Network properties
    1. Network reliability

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cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 5, Issue CSCW2

CSCW2

October 2021

5376 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3493286

Editor:
Jeff Nichols
Apple Inc., United States

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Copyright © 2021 ACM.

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Published: 18 October 2021

Published in PACMHCI Volume 5, Issue CSCW2

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Cited By

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1408481
Sun CJin JNainar K(2024)Impression management in a crisis: A conceptual framework of listed firms during the COVID-19 pandemicCorporate Ownership and Control10.22495/cocv21i2art921:2(114-120)Online publication date: 23-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv21i2art9
Cashman THutton Tde La Gorce MTakács TCriminisi AĐorđević MDubajić GMarjanović ĐOkošanović MRanković VRazumenić IRoško BŠarkić TSkakun MStojanović MVeličković NJovanović PPanda PTankelevitch LRintel S(2024)An Equal Seat at the Table: Exploring Videoconferencing with Shared Spatial Context combined with 3D Video RepresentationsExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650903(1-9)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650903
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