'When Strangers Meet’…an Exploration of the Experience of Intimacy in WhatsApp and Face-To-Face Interactions

Authors

  • Mohana Bharathi Manimaran Author
  • Kanika K. Ahuja Author

Keywords:

WhatsApp, FTF, nonverbal cues, textual cues, intimacy

Abstract

The current study examined the impact of communication medium on relational intimacy
between 120 previously unacquainted male and female participants, using an experimental design.
Sixty pairs of male-female participants were grouped under either of the two conditions: WhatsApp
mediated communication or Face-to-Face (FTF) communication. t test with independent means
revealed no significant difference inintimacy between the two conditions(t=1.228, p=.224, Cohen’s
d=0.314). Correlational analysis revealed a significant relationship between nonverbal cues and
intimacy in the FTF condition (r = .70, p=.000) but not between textual cues and intimacy in the
WhatsApp condition (r = .24, p=.207). Further, qualitative analysis revealed four features along
which pairs with high and low intimacy differed. The outcomes of the study would enable in
exploiting thefeatures of WhatsApp effectively to enhance interpersonal communication,regardless
of temporal orspatial barrier

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Author Biographies

  • Mohana Bharathi Manimaran

    Student, Department of Psychology, Lady Shri RamCollege for Women,University of Delhi, Delhi, India

  • Kanika K. Ahuja

    Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Lady Shri RamCollege for Women,University of Delhi,Delhi, India

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Published

01-07-2020

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2020)

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Mohana Bharathi Manimaran, Kanika K. Ahuja (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All accepted manuscripts would be freely available immediately under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0). 

How to Cite

’When Strangers Meet’…an Exploration of the Experience of Intimacy in WhatsApp and Face-To-Face Interactions. (2020). Indian Journal of Psychological Science, 13(2). https://napsyjournal.com/index.php/ijps/article/view/428

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