Explorations of the Effects of Conversational Behaviors on Interpersonal Attraction in a Work Setting, Face-to-Face Business Negotiations
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between conversational behaviors and interpersonal attraction. Fifty-eight American business people participated in Kelley's ( 1966) negotiation simulation. The negotiations were tape recorded, and paralanguage, content, and linguistic structure variables were coded and analyzed using correlation, factor analysis, multiple regression, and a structural equations approach. The results of the study suggest that the buyers' attraction to the sellers is positively influenced (1) by sellers' jovial behaviors and (2) by variations in the sellers' speech rate, but it is negatively influenced (3) by a direct information-seeking style and (4) by the sellers' use of an inclusive "we." Together, these four variables explained 58 percent of the variation in the sellers' attractiveness as rated by buyers.
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