At parties, weddings, dinners, get-togethers, and other events where people gather to socialize, usually they will have a meal together. It is also common in daily life to have conversations over the meal. Why is it that a meal often accompanies conversations? Does communication become better when having a meal together? To clarify these questions, we are investigating how communication differs when having a meal or not. We recorded videos of three friends having a conversation over a meal and another conversation without a meal, then analyzed their speech and gestures in detail. The figure below shows the differences between the two conditions.
References
- 井上智雄, 大武美香, 多人数会話における食事の有無の影響—会話行動の平準化—, ヒューマンインタフェース学会論文誌, Vol.13, No.3, pp.19-29, 2011.