<
https://theconversation.com/plants-and-bookcases-in-living-rooms-and-blank-walls-out-how-your-zoom-background-can-make-you-seem-more-competent-216461>
"Working from home has made job interviews and starting a new role easier in
many ways. You don’t have to worry about a missed train or spilt coffee
derailing a job interview if it’s on Zoom – but you still need to impress your
interviewer.
Your home surroundings help show off your personality to the person on the
other end of the Zoom call. Anyone who judged the bookcases of politicians and
celebrities during the early days of lockdown will be familiar with this.
My colleagues and I recently conducted a study that found the objects in your
digital background can affect how people view you. We already know that people
make snap first impressions based on faces and voices. On a video call, you
have to represent yourself, but also your environment.
The messy table behind you may be seen as an indication of your personality and
capabilities. An unmade bed shows a lack of attention to detail. On the
positive side, plants that you’ve kept alive showcase your responsibility and
maturity.
We created still images of men and women with smiling and neutral expressions
in front of various backgrounds on a Zoom call. We then asked 167 people to
rate the faces using a seven-point scale on how trustworthy and competent they
thought they were.
We didn’t mention the backgrounds, which allowed us to find out whether the
same face would be rated differently depending on what was behind them.
We found that plants or a bookcase in the background significantly increased
ratings of trust and competence. Conversely, a living room or novelty
background showed lower ratings. A blank or blurred background fell somewhere
in the middle. We also found that smiling faces and females were generally
regarded as more trustworthy and competent.
When we looked specifically at faces with neutral expressions, we found no
gender difference in ratings of trust or competence when they were seated in
front of the plants and bookcase. However, the male faces were rated as
significantly less competent if in front of a living room, novelty background
or blank wall.
All the faces in the database we used are white, thus avoiding race becoming a
confounding factor and allowing us to just focus on the effect of the Zoom
backgrounds. However, we know from other research that subconscious bias about
race, class and disability can affect how job applicants are viewed. Zoom
backgrounds may give an impression of someone’s heritage, disability or
socioeconomic status, so interviewers must still make an effort to remain
unbiased."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
