Unacquainted Dyads Research Articles

Effects of regulating emotional expression on authenticity and likeability in stranger dyads

The present study compares effects of expressive suppression to a less researched form of expression-focused emotion regulation (namely, amplification) in terms of impact on authenticity and socioemotional outcomes. We expected amplification to result in more positive outcomes than suppression because of its role in facilitating communication. Participants ( N = 306) formed 153 previously unacquainted dyads and were randomly assigned to a suppression of expression, amplification of expression, or control condition. After discussing recent personal negative events, participants reported their subjective authenticity, emotional experience, and impressions of their partner. Results revealed that suppressors felt less authentic compared to amplifiers and participants in the control condition. Partners’ perceptions of authenticity, however, did not differ across conditions, and only suppressors were rated as less likeable than those in the control condition. Consistent with prior work, amplification was unrelated to change in emotional experience, while suppression predicted decreased positive emotions from before to after the interaction. Building on prior work, these findings support the notion that expressive suppression can lead to interpersonal costs that hinder relationship formation, even though the inauthenticity suppression creates may largely go undetected by others. In contrast, amplification may serve as a relatively more adaptive expression-based strategy, at least in the context of non-close interactions.

Social Bonding in Initial Acquaintance: Effects of Modality and Modality Order

In this experimental study, unacquainted dyads engaged in a get-acquainted task using two modes of communication across two segments of interaction. The dyads either first disclosed in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) and then disclosed face-to-face (FtF) or the reverse. The participants completed reaction measures after each segment of interaction. After the first segment, dyads who communicated FtF reported more positive outcomes (e.g., liking, closeness) than dyads who engaged in CMC. Furthermore, dyads who began in CMC and then transitioned to FtF increased in their positive reactions, whereas dyads who began in FtF and transitioned to CMC either experienced no change (in liking, closeness, and perceived similarity) or experienced a decrease (in fun/enjoyment and perceived responsiveness). Implications of the results are discussed both for the classic social psychology question of how people become acquainted and for current interest in how mixed-mode interactions generate social bonds that can help meet belonging needs.

Physiological linkage to an interaction partner is negatively associated with stability in sympathetic nervous system responding

Recent work has demonstrated that people can be influenced by the physiological states of their interaction partners, showing physiological linkage to them from one moment to the next. In a study of unacquainted dyads who interacted for 30 min (ndyads = 47), we examine the novel question: Are people who show physiological linkage to their partners in sympathetic nervous system responding also less stable in their own responses? Understanding this relationship has important implications for how social relationships impact affective functioning and health. Results using multilevel modeling demonstrated that the within-person correlation between linkage and stability was negative—the more dyad members were physiologically influenced by their interaction partners, the less stable they were in their own physiological responding. This work shows that physiological linkage can come at a cost to people’s own stability, meaning our physiological states are more vulnerable to social influence than previously thought.

(Too) Anxious to help? Social support provider anxiety and cardiovascular function

Provider factors, such as anxiety, may be important in understanding effects of received social support (SS), which are less consistently positive than those of perceived SS. Due to the dyadic nature of support, anxiety on the part of the provider was predicted to influence the effectiveness of received SS. This laboratory study examined effects of SS provider anxiety within unacquainted dyads on cardiovascular reactivity during acute stress. 148 participants were assigned to support roles, and each dyad was randomized to low or high provider anxiety. Results include that SS provider anxiety resulted in greater blood pressure reactivity and less recovery toward baseline diastolic blood pressure within the dyad. Overall, it appears provider anxiety contributes to less effective SS for recipients and that health costs may accompany providing and receiving support under nonoptimal conditions.

Can I connect with both you and my social network? Access to network-salient communication technology and get-acquainted interactions

Although recent research has found evidence that the mere presence of a cell phone or other communication device has negative effects on the reported quality of face-to-face interactions (e.g., Misra, Cheng, Genevie, & Yuan, 2014; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2013), no prior study has examined how individuals' actual access to communication devices during an interaction may affect that interaction, either negatively or positively. This was the focus of our study. Seventy-five previously unacquainted dyads engaged in a get-acquainted interaction over Skype. In the experimental dyads, one member unobtrusively (out of the view of his or her interaction partner) checked his or her cell phone and Facebook while interacting with the other. In the control dyads, neither partner had cell phone or Facebook access. Regardless of condition, participants rated the interaction positively. Generally, being connected to one's social network had no effect on the interaction. A comparison of our results with those of recent studies (e.g., Przybylski & Weinstein) led to the conclusion that divided attention from the presence of a communication device may be detrimental for an interaction only when the network members cannot be accessed.

An exploration of psychological factors on emoticon usage and implications for judgement accuracy

Given the increasing use of online platforms, the current research comprised two studies examining links between personality and emoticon use: Study 1 explored the psychological factors associated with emoticon usage on different online platforms (N = 92), and Study 2 assessed the accuracy of a group of observers' personality judgements of Facebook users (N = 54). Participants in Study 1 comprised previously unacquainted dyads who each completed measures on their Big-5 personality, self-esteem, social anxiety, self-presentation, and self-reported usage of emoticons on email, text messages and Facebook. Participants provided Facebook data and interacted online with each other for 10-min. Trait analysis revealed that agreeableness was positively related to self-reported emoticon usage on Facebook, but not in texts or emails. In Study 2, observers viewed the Facebook stimuli and made personality assessments of the dyad members. Judgement accuracy was determined by correlating these assessments with targets' own self-reported personality. Analyses revealed the highest level of accuracy for extraversion and openness. Finally, positive correlations were found between objective usage of “happy” emoticons and observers' assessments of targets’ agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness. Taken together, findings indicate the importance of specific online behaviours in self-presentation, and their impact on judgement accuracy.

Associations Between Self-Expansion and Actual and Perceived (Dis)Similarity and Their Joint Effects on Attraction in Initial Interactions

Self-expansion theory [e.g., Aron, E. N., & Aron, A. (1996). Love and expansion of the self: The state of the model. Personal Relationships, 3, 45–58] suggests that people are attracted to those who offer opportunities to enhance the self. Although there is extensive evidence that similarity predicts liking, self-expansion theorists suggest that self-expansion opportunities are greatest with dissimilar others. Using a social interaction experiment, we explored the associations among perceived self-expansion opportunities, actual and perceived similarity, and attraction in the context of initial interactions. In 15-min interactions, 73 unacquainted dyads either discussed their leisure interests, discussed their political beliefs, or simply “became acquainted.” The discussion topic had no effect on attraction or perceived self-expansion. Actual similarity, operationalized by the degree of difference in partners' self-reported leisure interests or political views, was generally unassociated with perceived self-expansion opportunities and attraction. Perceived (global) similarity, however, was positively associated with self-expansion opportunities and attraction. Finally, perceived self-expansion opportunities mediated the link between perceived similarity and attraction.

Building Trust and Feeling Well: Examining Intraindividual and Interpersonal Outcomes and Underlying Mechanisms of Listening

We investigated perceived listening quality in relation to individual (self-clarity and emotional well-being) and dyadic variables (social attraction and trust). Specifically, we proposed that the link between perceived listening quality and emotional well-being is mediated by self-clarity, and that the link between perceived listening and trust is mediated by social attraction. We obtained data in a controlled setting from a sample of 50 unacquainted student dyads, in which the narrator told a personal story while the partner listened silently. The data showed a good fit to the model. Our work expands the understanding of listening by illuminating the role of mediating processes and by demonstrating correlates of perceived listening quality in the context of unacquainted dyads.

An Examination of Information Quality as a Moderator of Accurate Personality Judgment

Information quality is an important moderator of the accuracy of personality judgment, and this article describes research focusing on how specific kinds of information are related to accuracy. In this study, 228 participants (159 female, 69 male; mean age = 23.43; 86.4% Caucasian) in unacquainted dyads were assigned to discuss thoughts and feelings, discuss behaviors, or engage in behaviors. Interactions lasted 25-30 min, and participants provided ratings of their partners and themselves following the interaction on the Big Five traits, ego-control, and ego-resiliency. Next, the amount of different types of information made available by each participant was objectively coded. The accuracy criterion, composed of self- and acquaintance ratings, was used to assess distinctive and normative accuracy using the Social Accuracy Model. Participants in the discussion conditions achieved higher distinctive accuracy than participants who engaged in behaviors, but normative accuracy did not differ across conditions. Information about specific behaviors and general behaviors were among the most consistent predictors of higher distinctive accuracy. Normative accuracy was more likely to decrease than increase when higher-quality information was available. Verbal information about behaviors is the most useful for learning about how people are unique.

The effect of video feedback delay on frustration and emotion communication accuracy

Previous research has demonstrated that for unacquainted dyads and groups interacting over video, feedback delay can interfere with the impression-formation process and increase cognitive load, in turn leading to incorrect interpersonal judgments. In this study, 35 dyads participated in two 10-min conversation periods over video monitors. In one period there was a 1-s delay in the audio/video signal and in the other there was no delay. In period 1 the presence of feedback delay was associated with decreased frustration and increased ability to accurately judge a partner’s emotions. In period 2, however, feedback delay was associated with increased frustration and had no effect on emotion communication accuracy, which was decreased in both conditions by inaccurate assumed similarity. Results supported and expanded the relation-alignment perspective, which states that individuals will consciously attempt to manage their impressions over technological channels, but that they can also be unconsciously influenced by technological distortion.

Autonomy and Control in Dyads: Effects on Interaction Quality and Joint Creative Performance

Two studies examined interaction quality and joint performance on two creative tasks in unacquainted dyads primed for autonomy or control orientations. It was hypothesized that autonomy-primed dyads would interact more constructively, experience more positive mood, and engage the task more readily, and as a result these dyads would perform better. To test this, Study 1 primed orientation and explored verbal creative performance on the Remote Associates Task (RAT). In Study 2, dyads were primed with autonomy and control orientation and videotaped during two joint creative tasks, one verbal (RAT) and one nonverbal (charades). Videotapes were coded for behavioral indicators of closeness and task engagement. Results showed that autonomy-primed dyads felt closer, were more emotionally and cognitively attuned, provided empathy and encouragement to partners, and performed more effectively. The effects of primed autonomy on creative performance were mediated by interpersonal quality, mood, and joint engagement.

It's Not Just Your Goal, But Also Who You Know: How the Cognitive Associations Among Goals and Relationships Influence Goal Detection in Social Interaction

An experiment tested a theoretical framework for goal detection in dyadic interactions of close friends and unacquainted strangers wherein one conversationalist pursued a goal unbeknownst to a detector. The extent to which pursuers' conversation goal was cognitively associated with the dyad's relational type was manipulated. As hypothesized, pursuers' efficiency was significantly positively correlated to detectors' inference accuracy when the pursuer's goal was weakly linked to the relational type (e.g., avoid-awkwardness goal in close-friend dyads), whereas efficiency-accuracy correlations were not significant when the pursuer's goal was strongly linked to the relational type (e.g., avoid-awkwardness in unacquainted dyads). Results for detectors' inference certainty provided weak support for the prediction. Alternative accounts (e.g., personalism or relational knowledge) were relatively ineffective.

Social anxiety and computer-mediated communication during initial interactions: Implications for the hyperpersonal perspective

The study examined how the reduced nonverbal cues characteristic of computer-mediated communication (CMC) moderated the potentially negative interpersonal outcomes of social anxiety in initial interactions. Hypotheses predicted that CMC would mitigate the extent to which social anxiety caused interpersonal perceptions of anxiety and that CMC would attenuate the negative association between one’s social anxiety and one’s partner’s conversational satisfaction. A sample ( N = 206) of undergraduate students were paired in unacquainted dyads and then engaged in initial interaction conversations in either a face-to-face (FtF) or CMC context. The researchers measured social anxiety before the conversation and a number of outcomes after the conversation. The results revealed that CMC is a significant contingent condition to the association between social anxiety and one’s partner’s perception of this anxiety and a contingent condition to the association between social anxiety and one’s partner’s conversational satisfaction.

Perceptions of conflict strategies and communication competence in task‐oriented Dyads

Individuals in temporary task‐oriented dyads or groups must manage conflict competently if they hope to be successful in reaching their goals. Thus far, however, research on the associations between conflict styles and communication competence has focused on acquainted dyads, such as relational partners and coworkers, rather than unacquainted dyads assigned to work on tasks. The present study tests the applicability of the competence model of interpersonal conflict to temporary task‐oriented dyads. Dyads (N = 100) who had little or no relational history completed a simulated decision‐making task that involved choosing two out of four employees to lay off in response to a company's need to downsize. Results indicate people generally perceived the solution‐oriented strategy as appropriate and effective. Although people perceived their partners' use of the controlling strategy to be inappropriate, people rated themselves as more effective when they used the controlling strategy. People evaluated nonconfrontational strategies as particularly incompetent.

Collaborative recall in married and unacquainted dyads

Thirty younger couples between the ages of 19 and 36 ( M = 26.0, SD = 3.5) and thirty older couples between the ages of 56 and 85 ( M = 67.4, SD = 5.3) were tested on story recall, word recall, and a referential naming task. Each individual worked with the spouse and with a stranger of the other gender so that collaborative performance could be compared between familiar and unfamiliar dyads. Although participants anticipated that higher levels of recall performance would be obtained when they worked with a familiar partner, this expectation was not supported. Older men, but not older women recalled less information than younger adults. Younger dyads were found to be more efficient communicators than older dyads in the referential naming task.

Listeners as co-narrators.

A collaborative theory of narrative story-telling was tested in two experiments that examined what listeners do and their effect on the narrator. In 63 unacquainted dyads (81 women and 45 men), a narrator told his or her own close-call story. The listeners made 2 different kinds of listener responses: Generic responses included nodding and vocalizations such as "mhm." Specific responses, such as wincing or exclaiming, were tightly connected to (and served to illustrate) what the narrator was saying at the moment. In experimental conditions that distracted listeners from the narrative content, listeners made fewer responses, especially specific ones, and the narrators also told their stories significantly less well, particularly at what should have been the dramatic ending. Thus, listeners were co-narrators both through their own specific responses, which helped illustrate the story, and in their apparent effect on the narrator's performance. The results demonstrate the importance of moment-by-moment collaboration in face-to-face dialogue.

Positive affect, negative affect, and social interaction.

Two studies explored the relations of positive and negative affect (PA and NA) to social interaction. In Study 1, unacquainted dyads were surreptitiously videotaped as they participated in a 6-min interaction. Participants then evaluated the quality of the interaction. Independent observers also rated the videotaped interactions. Trait PA was positively related to both participant and observer evaluations of interaction quality. In Study 2, undergraduates kept diaries of their social interactions for 1 week. PA was again related to interaction quality. Both PA and NA were positively related to the number of interactions in which participants engaged, and the amount of time spent engaged in social contact, although different types of social encounters produced these relations. Psychologists have long been interested in individual differences in people's self-described emotional experience. Research has revealed that some people report experiencing greater amounts of positive emotions than do others and are typically referred to as high-positive-affect (or high-PA) individuals. People who are high in positive affect are, for example, consistently more likely to describe themselves as enthusiastic, confident, and excited than are people who are low in positive affect. On the other hand, some individuals' daily lives are characterized by greater amounts of negative affective states than are others, and they are often referred to as high-negative-affect (or highNA) people. For example, people who are high in NA are more likely to describe themselves as guilty, fearful, and nervous than are low-NA individuals. Although there are fluctuations in the levels of positive or negative affect a given person experiences at different points in time, the stability of self-reports of NA and PA is impressive (e.g., Watson, 1988a, 1988b). In sum, there appear to be trait like interindividual differences in people's typical self-reported levels of NA and PA. These individual differences in trait NA and PA also seem to underlie the personality dimensions of neuroticism and extraversion. In particular, self-report measures of NA and neuroticism have been repeatedly demonstrated to be highly correlated with one another but unrelated to measures of either positive affect or extraversion. Similarly, PA and extraversion are strongly related but are uncorrelated with either NA or neurot

Attractiveness and Disclosure in Initial Encounters of Mixed-Sex Dyads

Physically attractive people describe their daily interactions as more disclosing, intimate and satisfying than do unattractive people. We investigated the disclosing aspect of this description during naturally occurring encounters. Six-minute interactions of 38 previously unacquainted mixed-sex dyads were videotaped using Ickes's dyadic interaction paradigm. Physical attractiveness was rated reliably and videotape transcripts were coded according to a taxonomy of verbal response modes. The average attractiveness of dyads was significantly correlated with their average frequency of `pure Disclosure' (first-person subjective utterances). Breakdowns revealed that both men and women disclosed more if they themselves were attractive and if their partner was attractive. Participants' self-reported shyness tended to suppress the frequency of `pure Edification' (third-person objective utterances).

Interpersonal Deception

Interpersonal Deception Theory (IDT) posits that socially skilled individuals are better able to project truthful demeanors and evade detection than are unskilled individuals. IDT also predicts that social skills benefit receivers, making them better able to detect deception. Past research by Riggio, Thcker, Throckmorton, and Widaman in 1987 (in two separate studies) has shown that socially skilled individuals emit nonverbal behaviors that enhance believability. The present study extends Riggio's findings by investigating how social skills and nonverbal communication work in concert to predict three forms of deception/detection success: believability, accuracy, and bias. Acquainted and unacquainted dyads participated in interviews in which interviewees (senders) answered two questions truthfully and then used falsification, equivocation, or concealment to deceive on the remaining 13 questions. Results confirmed that as sender social skills increased, believability increased and receiver detection accuracy decreased, especially during equivocation. Skilled senders were more fluent and less hesitant. Senders were more believable, and truth biases were higher, if senders displayed greater involvement, positive affect, fluency, and composure and used a concealment strategy. Hesitancy was also implicated in a complex way. Only one dimension of receiver skill improved accuracy. Receivers were also more accurate if senders were less fluent.

Communication during prose recall conversations by young and old dyads

This study focused on the cooperative processes occurring during collaborative prose recall by adult dyads differing in age (young and old) and relationship (married and unacquainted). Analyses of the content of the conversations indicate that all groups produced similar proportions of story‐related and conversation‐related productions. At the beginning of the conversations, individual stimulus‐based productions were predominant. The end of the conversations were characterized by increased proportions of task discussion, particularly for married couples, and an increase in sociability/support productions by older adults, particularly older unacquainted dyads. Thus, all groups adopted the arguably superior strategy of beginning their recall conversations with an initial surge of individually recalled story information, and it was only at the end of the conversation that group differences in collaboration strategies were observed.