“Zooming” in on positive and accurate metaperceptions in first impressions: Examining the links with social anxiety and liking in online video interactions.

Many of us rely on online communication methods, such as videoconferencing, to connect with each other. However, less is known about how interpersonal processes unfold in this novel context. For example, do people believe others view them positively, displaying meta-positivity, and realize others' unique impression of them, displaying distinctive meta-accuracy, and do these processes have implications for liking in social interactions? And, do the same characteristics that predict lower meta-positivity and distinctive meta-accuracy in-person, such as being more socially anxious, predict similar difficulties in video interactions? We examined these questions in an online first impressions context using a videoconferencing platform, Zoom (N = 555; NDyads = 3,068), and compared them against an in-person sample (N = 305; NDyads = 1,683). People believed others saw them positively and understood others' unique impressions of them, displaying similar degrees of meta-positivity and distinctive meta-accuracy in video interactions as in in-person interactions. In both contexts, meta-positivity was related to liking others more, whereas distinctive meta-accuracy was related to being liked more by others. Further, social anxiety seemed to impair meta-positivity, which in turn contributed to why they liked others less in both contexts. In contrast to in-person interactions, social anxiety did not impair distinctive meta-accuracy in video interactions. Therefore, distinctive meta-accuracy did not account for the links between social anxiety and being liked in the video interaction context. Overall, metaperception processes generally operated very similarly online as in-person, though there were some noteworthy exceptions, in turn potentially bearing important implications for those with higher social anxiety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).