“I Think That I Made a Good Impression!”

Abstract

<jats:p> Abstract. In an evaluative context, does the impression we think we convey to others matter, such that the more positive we think the impression conveyed is, the better we perform? Does this belief need to be accurate to perform better? We investigate the role of meta-perception and meta-accuracy in a public speaking context by asking participants to deliver a speech in front of an audience in virtual reality. Main results showed that participants’ meta-perception (i.e., how positive they think the audience perceives them) was positively associated to their performance above and beyond other-perception (i.e., how the audience actually perceives them). Results also revealed that performance increased as scores of meta-perception and other-perception increased together (i.e., meta-accuracy), up to a certain threshold. </jats:p>

An Evaluation of the Relationship Between Perceptions and Performance of Students in a Serious Game

“…They found a positive relationship between perceptions and self-efficacy of students in the game-based learning environment. Similar findings were also reported by Kleinlogel et al (2020) in their study investigating the role of meta-perception on performance in public speaking with 132 university participants. Whereas these studies were consistent in their outcomes, one study did not find links between perceptions of 287 medical students towards the use of videos for learning and their performance in tests (Mahmud et al, 2011).…”

“…Backed by the proven relationship between positive affect and cognitive outcomes (Ashby et al., 1999), and given the positive views and prior game experiences reported by majority of the students, it was expected that the performance of a similar number of the students would be considered as High. This was not the case, and this result was found to contradict previous related studies (Kleinlogel et al., 2020; Lu & Lien, 2020; Ninaus et al., 2017). For the first study, it was statistically impossible to make any claims as the gameplay data of students could not be matched with their responses to the survey questions due to technical limitations.…”

“…They found a positive relationship between perceptions and self-efficacy of students in the game-based learning environment. Similar findings were also reported by Kleinlogel et al. (2020) in their study investigating the role of meta-perception on performance in public speaking with 132 university participants.…”

“…When applied to game-based learning, it is thus the expectation that positive perceptions towards games would influence performance in the game environment. Consistent with this theoretical view, a few studies have examined the relationship between perceptions and outcomes (Kleinlogel et al, 2020;Lu & Lien, 2020;Ninaus et al, 2017). In their study, Ninaus et al (2017) evaluated the effect of the acceptance of digital games for learning on learning success.…”

Public speaking training in front of a supportive audience in Virtual Reality improves performance in real-life

“…Another mechanism mediating the relationship of audience behavior and public speaking might be self-efficacy 4 . In line with this notion, a recent study could show that participant’s belief about their performance in a public speaking task influenced quality of performance as rated by others 24 . Having the impression to give a good performance as indicated by positive feedback from the audience might therefore increase self-efficacy and actual performance.…”