What does your online meeting background reveal about you?
First impressions are very important in the post-pandemic world and in the age of video conferencing and hybrid work. Most of us choose a safe option such as a company name and logo, an office space, or simply blur our surroundings. But how do these and other choices of background images influence the way we’re judged?
Not your typical background check
Researchers at the United Kingdom’s Durham University analysed how Zoom backgrounds affect our first impressions of people. From a database of human facial images, they gathered 72 pictures featuring 36 white adults evenly divided between males and females. They superimposed these faces onto six standard settings: a living room, a slightly blurred living room, a bookcase, a cabinet filled with potted plants, a blank wall and a walrus in front of an iceberg. The research team asked 167 participants aged between 19 and 68 to rate on a scale the people based on how trustworthy and competent they appeared. The plants or bookcases were perceived as the most trustworthy, while living rooms and novelty backdrops such as animals were seen as the least competent. The slightly blurred living room and plain wall backgrounds fell somewhere in between. Results also showed that the smiling faces were considered more competent and trustworthy than the neutral ones. The findings were published in ‘PLoS ONE’(opens in new window).
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression
“If you have an online interview coming up or need to make a good first impression online, first of all, do all the things you would do if it were face to face,” co-author Paddy Ross, an associate professor of psychology at Durham University, told ‘Newsweek’(opens in new window). “Dress appropriately, smile, be amicable. But also make sure you pay attention to your surroundings on camera. Have a look before any meeting to see what your camera can see, and ask yourself if that’s something YOU would like to see if you were hiring someone. And if you can place some strategically placed plants or books in the background, this research suggests that that will give you the best chance at making a good first impression.” He added: “It could be that plants for instance give the impression that someone is responsible, and thus trustworthy and competent. Similarly, a bookcase can give the impression of intelligence and someone who wants to better themselves intellectually, leading to higher scores of trust and competence as well.” What about the living room and novelty background choices? “It’s like you haven’t put any thought into how you are presenting yourself and so this seems less competent than someone… who seems able to keep plants alive, or someone with a bookcase who looks like they are trying to better themselves,” Assoc Prof. Ross told ‘CNN’(opens in new window). Nowadays, there’s less attention being paid to how we look and more on the environment of our backdrops. He refers to a carefully chosen video call background as “the new business suit.”