Beyond the Lab: Validating Personality Impressions and Behavioral Observations in Online Video Calls

Abstract

Observations of behavior are of central importance in social-personality psychology. A major downside of such observations, however, is that they are highly costly in terms of the required logistics, time, financial resources, and effort. The current research tested whether accurate behavioral observations could also be gained in a far more economical way, by analyzing behavior during online video calls, rather than in the laboratory. It did so by analyzing whether classic findings reported from laboratory studies on accurate personality impressions and on the link between personality and behavior could be replicated when behavior is observed during online video calls. Participants first completed an online survey, which included assessments of various personality traits (Big Five, narcissism, self-esteem, motives) and intelligence. They were then interviewed online, and these interactions were recorded and then coded by external observers. In total, the pattern of results and the effect sizes matched very well with previous findings using offline settings in laboratories. Most personality traits could be accurately detected by observers (mean r = .29) and correlated with the predicted behaviors (mean r = .22). Thus, behavior observations based on recordings of online video calls can yield valid results, indicating that online environments offer a suitable assessment context for behavior measurement.