Participant and observer attribution of affect in interpersonal conflict: An examination of noncontent verbal behavior

Abstract

This investigation explored the relationship between observer and participant attribution of affect intensity in interpersonal conflict interaction and the occurrance of verbal behavior. It was predicted that observer's judgments of affect intensity would account for more variation in verbal behavior that represents conflict than would participant's judgments of affect intensity. Videotapes of 37 dyadic conflict interactions were examined. The results indicate that one observer's judgment of affect intensity was a much better predictor of verbal behavior than were the other observer's judgment of affect intensity or either of the two participant's judgments of affect intensity. While some evidence was yielded to suggest that observers are more likely to be sensitive to behavior in their attribution of affect intensity than are participants, these results imply significant differences in the attribution of affect between some observers.