Sugitani Yoko

The purpose of this study was to verify that people feel more at ease using Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) compared to other media because of higher self-presentation efficacy. The reason for this may be the lack of nonverbal cues in CMC: it can help people present themselves in a preferred way. To test this hypothesis, I conducted two experiments. The experimental hypothesis of Study 1 was as follows: when people strongly want to make a good impression on others, they feel it is easier to communicate without nonverbal cues than with them. Conversely, when people are unconcerned about the impression they make on others, the amount of nonverbal cues does not influence the level of ease that people feel. The results partially supported the hypothesis. In Study 2, I scrutinized the process of the phenomenon observed in Study 1. The model was: the lack of nonverbal cues in CMC raises self-presentation efficacy, therefore, people feel more at ease during CMC. The result of path analysis significantly supported this assumption.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of pictures in advertisements on the evaluation of products. In Studies 1 and 2, the following hypotheses were verified. H1: When consumers watch advertisements without pictures, their evaluation of the product would be more easily biased according to their preconceptions about the company as compared to when they watch advertisements with pictures of products. H2: This bias of product evaluation would arise only when consumers elaborate the advertisement messages, and not when they fail to do so. The effects of nonverbal elements including pictures, music, and images in the advertisements were also discussed.