Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40028546›Full record

ArticleHeliyon2025

Digital connection, real bonding: Brief online chats boost interpersonal closeness regardless of the conversational topic.

Chiara Fini, Vanessa Era, Giovanna Cuomo, Ilenia Falcinelli, Mattia A Gervasi, Matteo Candidi, Claudia Mazzuca, Marco Tullio Liuzza, Bodo Winter, Anna M Borghi

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Heliyon, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Chiara FiniDepartment of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Vanessa EraDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Giovanna CuomoDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Ilenia FalcinelliDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Mattia A GervasiDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Matteo CandidiDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Claudia MazzucaDepartment of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Marco Tullio LiuzzaDepartment of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.
Bodo WinterDepartment of English Language and Literature, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Anna M BorghiDepartment of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This study explores how the quality of brief dyadic written exchanges (lasting under 5 min) on a virtual platform and the nature of the conversational topic (abstract or concrete), influences physical, interpersonal, and psychological closeness between interlocutors. In the first experiment, participants engaged in written conversations on either an abstract or concrete topic under two conditions: (i) an interactive condition, where participants exchanged messages with another person, and (ii) a non-interactive condition, where participants wrote independently on the same topic, aware that another person was simultaneously doing the same. Results indicated that participants in the interactive condition reported feeling significantly closer to their interlocutor than those in the non-interactive condition. In addition, greater perceived pleasantness, intimacy, and the importance of the other person's contribution to the conversation were associated with increased feelings of closeness. However, inconclusive evidence was obtained regarding the interaction of the other person's contribution with the abstractness of the conversational topic during the written exchanges in fostering feelings of closeness. The second experiment focused only on the interactive condition, where we examined interpersonal dynamics across different subcategories of abstract (e.g., philosophical/spiritual, emotional, social, physical/spatio-temporal) and concrete topics (e.g., tools, animals, food). The results of the first experiment were replicated, reinforcing the idea that the quality of the virtual exchange-rather than the topic itself-plays a crucial role in fostering feelings of closeness between individuals.

Indexed as

AbstractnessChatConversationInterpersonal closenessSelf-other representation

Identifiers

PMID40028546
PMCPMC11869026

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.