Implications of Technology for Social and Emotional Communication

Communication technologies are transforming school psychology training and professional practices. To determine the effect of various communication technologies, this exploratory study contrasted three different communication modalities, including the receipt of messages via video, audio, and text. School psychology students were randomly assigned to those three conditions and asked to interpret the emotional intensity of a message conveyed in a case study concerning sexual and psychological abuse. Results showed different response patterns under the various conditions. Members of the group reading a text of the case study rated the emotional intensity as more extreme than did the members of the video and audio groups, both of whom had nonverbal affective information available to them. Practical implications for training and practice are discussed. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.