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Publication Date

Fall 2022

Degree Type

Thesis - Campus Access Only

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Shinchieh (CJ) Duh

Subject Areas

Psychology

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a shift to videoconferencing for education. However, the use of videoconferencing may have negative impacts on mental health. Due to the camera’s proximity, presenters may experience symptoms of Social Anxiety (SA). As a result, students may avoid using the camera in distance-learning courses that use videoconferencing, which may impact student learning. The current study examines the relationship between videoconferencing, SA, self-focused attention, and negative self-beliefs while exploring students’ perceptions of videoconferencing for education. It was hypothesized that SA, self-focused attention and negative self-beliefs would be positively correlated and that these variables would be negatively related to video camera use. One hundred and eight college students completed measures regarding videoconferencing (with and without camera use), SA, self-focused attention, and negative beliefs via an online survey. As expected, SA correlated significantly with self-focused attention and negative beliefs, replicating past findings. However, hypotheses regarding video camera use were not supported. The current discussion includes several possible explanations for the unexpected findings and offers insight into how students interact and perform while distance-learning using videoconferencing.

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