Relational messages associated with persona‐sharing

This study investigated the assumption that conversations incorporating persona‐sharing would be associated with changes in perceptions of relational messages. Two‐hundred and one participants watched videotapes of male interactants either engaging or not engaging in conversation incorporating persona‐sharing. Results showed that persona‐sharing was associated with increased perceptions of immediacy, intimacy / similarity, and dominance. When an interactant was excluded from persona‐sharing conversation, perceived relational messages directed toward him were seen as less immediate, less intimate, and less dominant relative to being excluded from non‐persona‐sharing conversation.