The Priming Effects of Virtual Environments on Interpersonal Perceptions and Behaviors

This study investigated how virtual environments prime subsequent interpersonal relations among unacquainted individuals. Participants met in a virtual library or a cafe. Individuals in the virtual library perceived greater self and partner formality compared to those in the cafe. In addition, more self-disclosure correlated with less formality only in the library, showing how revealing more about oneself goes against library norms. In contrast, perceived warmth and word counts were at the center of the effects found in the virtual cafe. Partner warmth and word counts also mediated the effect of the environments on formality. Overall, this article advances priming research in stimuli-rich virtual settings by showing how environmental salience and activation of contextual norms affected interpersonal perceptions among unacquainted partners.