A Comparative Study of Intimacy Engendered Between Strangers and Friends as a Result of Private Videotelephony Dialogue

Abstract

A large body of literature suggests that intimacy is an interpersonal process that is characterised by and achieved through constant progress and time. This paper explores intimacy in single episodes between pairs of complete strangers and compares the groups findings to intimacy between pairs of friends. Eight pairs of strangers and eight pairs of friends participated in an hour-long conversation on Zoom using a set of intimate questions. An online questionnaire was then distributed to measure four components of the interpersonal process model of intimacy developed by Reis and Shaver (self-disclosure, perceived partner disclosure, perceived partner responsiveness, and intimacy), with an additional component of conversation quality. Sixteen transcribed audio files were inputted in the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) text analysis program to calculate the degree to which various categories of words were used in the conversations. The obtained results based on the sample indicated that there is a significant difference between strangers’ and friends’ levels of conversation quality, self-disclosure, perceived partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness. Strangers experienced lower levels of all. Intimacy, on the other hand, showed no significant difference between the two groups. Regression analyses revealed that intimacy is predicted by self-disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness. The LIWC output demonstrated that strangers and friends used similar words in their conversations, with no significant difference between categories, except for ‘anger’, with friends using more anger in their speech. Based on the obtained results, this study took a significant step forward in a heavily under-researched context by investigating intimacy between strangers during their initial encounter. Keywords: interpersonal process model of intimacy, strangers, initial interaction, friends, human connection, intimacy, dialogue