Zoom Camera Conformity, Attire, & PPT Presenter View
Zoom Camera On or Off? Introvert or Extravert?
“Introverts are often not very talkative, but “writative”. They love the written word.”
Table of Contents
3. Sex Differences
∘ Camera Conformity
∘ Professional Virtual Attire
4. Sidenotes
∘ How to Get Presenter View via Powerpoint on Zoom
∘ Zoom Backgrounds
Zoom Camera Conformity
A Canvasboard extra credit survey of 478 students found that…
Nurture → about 50% of students turn on their Zoom cameras if everyone else does, as Solomon Asch may have predicted.
Nature → about 50% of students turn their cameras off/on regardless of what everyone else does, as Susan Cain may have predicted.
Counterbalancing
Figure A illustrates the results when asked when they are most likely to turn on their Zoom camera.
Figure B was conducted with students who added the course after the 1st week & asked when they are least likely to turn on their Zoom camera.
Introverts & Extraverts
Among non-conforming students, introverts are more likely to have their Zoom cameras off, & extraverts to have their cameras on or off, regardless of what other students are doing, χ2 (4, N = 294)= 11.91 , p = .018.
Overall, most reported conforming to the normative pressure to have their Zoom cameras on (or off) if they see many of their peers with their cameras on (or off) during Zoominars. In other words, individuals may conform to the norm pressures that they themselves create in class. If the students who are in the Zoominar first are the ones most likely to have cams on (or off), that sets the norm for classmates arriving in lecture later.
In short, when it comes to Zoom cameras & the power of the digital situation vs personality, like all other Nature/Nurture, Evolution/Socialization debates… the answer always ends up being *both*
Sex Differences
Camera Conformity
No sex difference in camera conformity.
Note: There were some genderfluid names I couldn’t code (e.g., Cameron, Morgan, Hayden, Alex, Taylor, Blake, Riley).
Professional Virtual Attire
An article by Zlati Meyer discussed results from a June 11–15 Harris Poll conducted exclusively for Fast Company (N = 2026 US Adults).
Do you “always” or “sometimes” enable Zoom video?
→ Only 55% of women currently working from home due to COVID-19 say they’re likely to “always” or “sometimes” enable video during videoconference meetings, compared to 65% of men
Of those that disable their video…
→ 41% of women do so to multitask (30% of men)
→ 39% of women disable their video because they don’t like the way they look at the moment (25% of men)
And when women do intend to use video, they prep…
→ 85% of women will do their hair compared (74% of men)
→ 80% of women will change what they’re wearing (71% of men)
It’s not only about physical appearance…
→ 83% of women clean the visible Zoom workspace (77% of men)
Doreen Dodgen-Magee, a Portland-based psychologist:
“Men, especially White men, “can show up however they want and there’s not that kind of freedom for people of color or women. They have to fight for a seat at the table and part of that is having to look the part.
We tend to live in a time of extreme judgement, rather than empathy. One thing it’s done is to objectify others in digital spaces.”
Sidenotes
How to Get Presenter View via Powerpoint on Zoom
Here is how you get presenter view while using powerpoint.
Thanks to Dr. Naomi Eisenberger’s (the Mother of Social Neuroscience) husband Dr. Matt Lieberman & Dr. Amanda Montoya for the tweet tip on this back in April.
Zoom Backgrounds
“If you’re participating in a Zoom call during the day, find a nice spot where the natural light hits your face. However, don’t sit with your back to a window. This will result in you becoming backlit, and your team won’t be able to see you clearly.
Most of Zoom’s default virtual backgrounds aren’t the best fit for professional meetings. Luckily, you can use any video or image you want as your background, as long as it complies with the platform’s file requirements:
- Images: Most image types, with a minimum resolution of 1280×720 and an aspect ratio of 16:9.
- Videos: MP4 or MOV files with a resolution between 480×360 and 1920×1080.”
— Will Morris, How to Look Good on Zoom
Remember to mirror any virtual background you use with written content so viewers can see it from left to right instead of backwards characters going from right to left. Even though I won several trophies for my Quran recitals in Arabic during elementary school, English was never meant to be read from right to left.
(Given my bireligious childhood, I’ve sadly forgotten how to right & read most Arabic given the increasingly dominant role Christianity played in my life relative to Islam. I still always keep my Bible next to me here in the office & my Quran next to me at home. #MixedLife)