Communicating Persuasively: Email or Face-to-Face?

**temi** · 03-25-2007, 04:42 PM

I found this article very interesting, perhaps becuase of my past training as a Psychologist, I hope someone finds it interesting too:

Our intuitive understanding is that face-to-face communication is the most persuasive. In reality, of course, it's not always possible to meet in person, so email wins out. How, then, do people react to persuasion attempts over email? Persuasion research has uncovered fascinating effects: that men seem more responsive to email because it bypasses their competitive tendencies (Guadagno & Cialdini, 2002). Women, however, may respond better in face-to-face encounters because they are more 'relationship-minded'. But is this finding just a gender stereotype?

Full story: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog: Communicating Persuasively: Email or Face-to-Face?

melkior_inactive · 03-25-2007, 04:51 PM

I find this very interesting since I study psychology as a part of my information sciences training.

Although my preferred ways of communication are always:
1. face-to-face
2. voice call
3. e-mail
4. text message (SMS)

I have always relied on the ability to make eye contact with the person I'm talking to. And my musical training differes the sound of someones voice.
I guess eyes and the characteristics of voice give me more information about the person than plain text.