Construct validation of the concepts social presence, emotional presence, and connectedness and an application of Zajonc’s social facilitation theory to social presence research

‘Social presence ’ is a frequently used concept in Presence research. However, as several authors have noted, it is also a problematic concept. A literature review reveals that some of the recent discussion about the definition of ‘social presence ’ deals with the distinction between ‘perceptual social presence ’ (the perceptual awareness that you are not alone) and ‘connectedness ’ (the emotional feeling that you are not alone, that you are in touch with someone). In an experiment we have tried to establish discriminant validation of the concepts (perceptual) social presence and connectedness and convergent validation of emotional presence and connectedness. The results support the view that perceptual awareness is a discriminant property of social presence. They partially support the similarity between connectedness and emotional presence. The experiment also explored the application of Zajonc’s theory of social facilitation as a triangulation of the notion that perceptual awareness is a prerequisite for experiencing social presence. The results give limited support for a mere presence effect