Drivers and social effects of the decision to turn on one’s camera during videoconferencing in groups

With the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, videoconferencing was rapidly adopted. However, individuals frequently decide to keep their cameras off during videoconferences. Currently, the reasons for this are not well modeled, and neither are the social effects this decision has. The present research addresses the question whether camera use can be conceptualized as prosocial behavior. To this end, two preregistered studies (total N = 437) examined how the decision to turn on one’s camera is influenced by established situational determinants (group size, social influence, and social tie strength) and dispositional predictors of prosocial behavior (individual communion, agency, and social value orientation), whether individuals prefer meetings in which others turn on their cameras, and whether camera use impacts social perception (communion and agency) by others. As predicted, people were shown to overall prefer meetings in which others turn on their cameras in Study 1 (a factorial survey). Furthermore, situational determinants of prosocial behavior were demonstrated to influence camera use in the hypothesized directions, while findings regarding dispositional predictors of prosocial behavior were mixed. Study 2 conceptually replicated the effect of social influence on camera use in a correlational survey. As predicted, it was also demonstrated that individuals who have their camera on are perceived as higher in agency, but, in contrast to predictions, not higher in communion. Together, the findings indicate that camera use is prosocial in that it benefits others, but that it is not primarily driven by prosocial intent or commonly interpreted as a prosocial act.