First Impressions of Talking Rates in Opposite-sex and Same-Sex Interactions

Abstract

Four experiments were conducted in which subjects evaluated people who talked 20, 50 or 80% of the time in opposite-sex or same-sex interactions. Multivariate analysis of results showed that first impressions of talking rate can be understood in terms of a "potency" dimension and a "liking" dimension. People who talked 80% of the time were evaluated as being domineering, out going, selfish, inconsiderate, inattentive, impolite, cold, and disliked by the other person. People talking 50% of the time were evaluated as being likeable, attentive, polite, and warm. People talking 20% of the time were evaluated as being submissive, introverted, unselfish and unintelligent. There was no interaction between speaker sex and amount of talking in opposite-sex dyads. Males in same-sex interactions were evaluated as being cold when they spoke 20% of the time and females in same-sex interactions were evaluated as being cold, inattentive, and intelligent when they spoke 80% of the time. Suggestions were given for an attributional study of talking rate.