Interpersonal orientation and speech behavior

Abstract

This investigation examined the relationship between interpersonal orientation (IO) and speech behavior levels and adaptations. Speech behaviors studied included turn duration, vocalization duration, internal pause duration, response latency, speech rate, and interruptive and non‐interruptive simultaneous speech frequencies. Twenty low IOs (10 males and 10 females) and 20 high IOs (10 males and 10 females) participated in 25‐minute conversations with a same‐sex confederate. The results indicated that: (1) low IO males were least vocally active and expressive and least consistent in their speech performances, and (2) high IO males and low IO females tended to demonstrate greater speech convergence than the other two groups. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Notes

Richard L. Street, Jr. is Associate Professor of Speech Communication, Texas Tech University, and Thomas L. Murphy is a student in the School of Law at the same institution.