What they say, how they say it, or how they look saying it: Which channels of communication link attachment anxiety and problematic first impressions?

Abstract

Concerns about what to say or do can compromise first impressions. In previous research, the anxiously attached—desperate to connect but preoccupied with potential rejection—had first impressions tainted with manifest anxiety (MAnx) and social disengagement (SDis). But which communication channels—content, sound, or visual—are most problematic? Distinguishing between channels is necessary to inform interventions that might help the anxiously attached initiate relationships. The present exploration applied a new coding paradigm to archived video of participants filming an introduction to a romantic prospect. In mediation models, attachment anxiety was linked to MAnx via content, sound, and visual channels and to SDis via sound and visual channels. These findings suggest interventions should take a multichannel, holistic approach.