Can we judge cooperativeness over Zoom? Comparing prediction accuracy in virtual and in-person encounters

In today’s workplaces, video conferencing is widely used for important activities like job interviews and team meetings. But one key question remains: how well can we understand and judge others during brief video calls—especially when it comes to predicting whether someone will be helpful, cooperative, or generous?

This study looked at whether the type of communication—face-to-face (FtF) or video-to-video (VtV)—affects how accurately people can predict a stranger’s behavior after a short interaction. We focused specifically on how well people could guess if the other person would act cooperatively. Our research was guided by Media Naturalness Theory (MNT), which suggests that face-to-face communication is easier for our brains to process because it’s how humans evolved to interact. We also drew on evolutionary psychology, which highlights the importance of solving adaptive problems — problems where the solution increases one’s chances of survival and reproduction.

We ran two behavioral experiments. In both, participants interacted with strangers either in person (FtF) or over a video call (VtV), and then tried to predict how cooperative their partner would be. In the second study, we added a third group where eye contact was digitally adjusted using gaze correction technology (VtVg), to see if that would help improve prediction accuracy.

The results were clear. People who met face-to-face were much better at predicting their partner’s behavior. In contrast, those in video interactions—both regular and with corrected eye contact—were no better than chance, meaning their predictions were about as accurate as random guesses. Adding eye contact through technology didn’t make a noticeable difference.

These findings suggest that even though video calls let us see and hear each other, they don’t fully replicate the same results as face-to-face meetings. This has real consequences for how we use video communication in the workplace, especially when we need to quickly assess others’ intentions or character in interviews, collaborations, or negotiations.Roghanizad, M. (2025). Resource-seeking and media choice process: A case of irrational decision making. International Journal of Information Management (Accepted).