Durham University researchers define what makes the best virtual first impression

Psychologists at Durham University have found the answers to creating the best first impression in a virtual meeting, such as Teams or Zoom, is a visual background of house plants and books.

The team of researchers, led by Associate Professor Paddy Ross at Durham’s Department of Psychology, were interested to investigate what is really contributing to best, and worst, first impressions in a virtual environment.

As many more first introductions, such as job interviews, conferences, and business meetings, take place virtually, the team wanted to provide people with a useful and practical formula for creating the best first impression to instil both trustworthiness and competence.

They found the answer is in your choice of virtual background or environment. The study identified backdrops of books and plants give the best all round first impressions when it comes to levels of trust and competence. While on the contrary, comedic or living room backgrounds consistently scored the lowest.

Their analysis also discovered gender could be having an impact too, with women consistently looking more trustworthy and competent than men regardless of the kind of virtual background. Across the board, a smiley, happy demeanour is also key to giving a more trusting and competent first impression.

The findings offer practical tips for everyone, whether you’re preparing for a virtual interview or delivering an online sales pitch, that can be used easily and immediately, especially when tailoring your approach to fit a virtual audience and strike the best first impression.

Dr Ross said: “With the explosion of videoconferencing and in the hybrid way many of us now work, making a good first impression online is more important than ever. While being smartly dressed and smiling are still very important, we must now also consider the environment in which we are situated. More thought should be put into our videoconferencing backgrounds in order to help make the best possible first impression and maximise impressions of trust and competence.

“This research shows how your choice of virtual background can affect the first impressions we make. If you want to come across as trustworthy and competent there are some backgrounds you should use, and some you should definitely avoid.”

The study assessed the views of more than 160 individuals, who were asked to evaluate a person’s trust and competence levels against differing virtual backgrounds. Participants were shown a controlled sample of images of people against a variety of virtual backdrops and with a mix of neutral and happy facial expressions.

Durham is ranked in the Top 10 Psychology departments in the UK by The Complete University Guide 2022 and in the World Top 100 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023.

The research findings have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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