Omoiyari and Reference Place: Team Support based on Multi-modal Communication

Previously, the reference place in intra-team interactions has been defined as the collection of references that team members share to increase consensus and harmony. Psychological studies have characterized the reference place based on verbal communication. These studies also have highlighted the need for being concerned about the other person, which is captured in the Japanese concept of Omoiyari. The current study has investigated an enhancement of such communication by exchanging images. For this purpose, a system for communicating images as well as text constrained by Omoiyari-type concerns has been developed. The system formed the basis of a study where a stranger as well as friends of the participants communicated liked and disliked images. Participants responded to that image presentation with text messages. The dependent variable was defined as the increase in harmony assessment after image presentation and was expressed in values of a Likert scale. The results showed a significant difference between images sent by strangers and by friends (F1,11 = 30.31, p < 0.005) and between liked and disliked images (F1,11 = 14.19, p < 0.01). These differences indicate a confirmatory bias, as more information is available about friends than strangers. The confirmatory bias hypothesis was further supported by a qualitative analysis of participants’ responses to images. The result suggests that exchanging images has a positive effect on relationships, if the partners have contextual knowledge available and if they use this knowledge for an Omoiyari-type approach in selecting images as opposed to using images for self-presentation