INTERACTIONAL SYNCHRONY AND RAPPORT - MEASURING SYNCHRONY IN DISPLAYSDEVOID OF SOUND AND FACIAL AFFECT

The validity of a rating paradigm used to measure relative degrees of movement coordination occurring within social interaction (i. e., inte ractional synchrony) was examined. Untrained judges viewed video clips from 60 dyads, each recorded in two interaction contexts. Two types o f video displays were generated. In one condition, judges rated intera ctional synchrony from standard video. In the mosaic display condition , all features and fine detail that normally would provide a rich arra y of socially informative data (e.g., facial expressions and twitches) were removed by digitalizing the video image into a mosaic of monocol ored blocks. The patterns of synchrony results generated from the two display conditions were virtually identical. Whereas the ratings of sy nchrony from standard displays could have been influenced by expressed affect and interest, such confounds were unlikely to influence rating s made using the silent mosaic displays.