Noncontent aspects of face-to-face interactions between friend and stranger dyads
Date
1978
Authors
Sklarski, Wayne Richard
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Abstract
An experiment was performed to test the communication model of convergence using two noncontent measures: reaction time latency and duration of utterance. Participants were paired into dyads on the basis of length of acquaintance. Friend dyad participants had the friendship basis of acquaintance of their partner for a minimum of six months. Stranger dyad participants were required to have had no prior acquaintance. Dyads spoke in unstructured dialogue for 45 minutes on each of two occasions. All conversations were tape recorded and all data was extracted mechanically from the conversational tapes. The communication model was not supported by the obtained data. Stranger dyads did not exhibit the predicted greater convergence pattern expected on both measures over sections of the same conversation or over occasions. Similarly, friend dyads did not exhibit the highly converged pattern expected, invariant both over sections of the same conversation and over occasions on either noncontent measure. Friend dyads were found to exhibit a more balanced pattern on utterance length than stranger dyads, which was characterized as a more equal sharing of the available speaking time in conversation. The appropriateness of describing high correlations on noncontent measures found in unstructured dialogue between peers as exemplifying convergence is discussed. Partial replications of Kendon (1963) and Gallois and Markel (1975) were performed. Also, the overall pattern displayed by stranger dyads is discussed with reference to the role differentiation strategy proposed by Davis (1976, 1977). Suggestions for future research are offered.