UC San Diego

This dissertation investigated the connection between verbosity and individuals' ability to communicate effectively, and to manage the impression that they leave on others. We explored also whether impressions of "talkativeness" were closely linked to the number of words produced by talkers. Experiments 1a - 1d explored how verbosity changed when subjects were asked to either convey information accurately (control condition), accurately and intelligently (intelligence condition), accurately and amiably (friendly condition), or accurately and efficiently (efficient condition). Experiment 1e took it to the next step, and explored the relationship between verbosity and listeners' understanding. We used the recorded vocalizations from 1a - 1d to present to new subject listeners, who were blind to the talkers' conditions. These subjects followed the talkers' instructions in an attempt to arrive at the correct answer to a problem, and rated the talkers' personalities. We found that people do alter how much they talk according to some situational cues, like interpersonal motivations. Further, it was shown that when listeners got the correct answer, talkers had used more words and talked longer; and when talkers had made a positive impression on listeners in terms of efficiency, intelligence, friendliness, and skill, they had used more words and spoken more rapidly. Experiment 2a asked dyads to interact in real time in two talking situations: A loose, question and answer session followed by a structured, task-oriented session. Subjects rated each other on a range of personal qualities (e.g. friendliness and listening skill) and how much they would like to work with their partner again. The number of words talkers used was significantly correlated between the two talking sessions, and was also correlated with ratings of subjects' talkativeness; it was negatively correlated with ratings of talkers' listening skills and with partners' ratings of desire to work with the talker again. This study found no difference between men and women in verbosity for any part of the study, though it did find that same-sex female pairs rated each other the most harshly. A final, online component (experiment 2b) presented written transcriptions of the previous study subjects' answers to the get-to-know-you questions to new, naive subjects. Subjects were asked to rate the answers in terms of several personal qualities. We confirmed that reading rather than hearing more words also captured the quality of a talker's "talkativeness", and that using more words was related to others' increased ratings of talkers' creativity, interestingness, and friendliness, though perhaps at the expense of their apparent efficiency