Social norms and behavioral regulation in asynchronous communication: the shift of attention during speed communication

Speed communication analysis (Wicklund & Vandekerckhove, 2000) suggests that the interplay between communicative velocity and sensorial bandwidth is fundamental to predict psychological consequences in mediated communication. In line with this viewpoint, Bertacco and Deponte (2005) found that students using e-mail communication (speedy media) were more concise and less inclined to take the recipient's perspective than were students who communicated by postal letter (slow media). Drawing on speed communication analysis, two experiments were conducted to examine (a) the presence of social norms and (b) behavioral regulation in e-mail versus postal letter communication. In Experiment 1, students anticipated either an e-mail or a postal letter interaction with a fictitious confederate. Results supported the existence of social norms for speed communication because the simple anticipation of an e-mail interaction resulted in a shortfall in the recipient's perspective taking. In experiment 2, students who were typing either an e-mail or a postal letter were unexpectedly interrupted. Findings were in line with an attentional model of mediated interactions based on the speed communication analysis: Students who wrote a postal letter were (a) more likely to remember the interruption and (b) less sensitive to external stimuli than were e-mail students. Research limits as well as scope for future research are discussed in the conclusions.