SAGE Journal Articles
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Abstract: Using data from individuals disclosing a personally relevant and problematic event to either a stranger (N = 151) or friend (N = 119), this study explored whether emotion and cognitive mechanism words produced by the discloser and the language style matching (LSM) of interlocutors influenced the reappraisal process necessary to feel better. Results showed that positive emotion words and LSM influenced reported emotional improvement through the mechanism of cognitive reappraisal (CR). This model was supported for friends and strangers who also did not appreciably differ with respect to language use or style matching. The discussion highlights the role of CR as well as the potential for other emotion regulation strategies in the conversational coping process.
Abstract: Verbal mimicry research claims that repeating words spoken by another makes people more eager to comply with requests made by the mimicker (e.g., fulfilling a request to donate to charity). Instead, another mechanism might explain these results. Recent studies found that when a request was preceded by engaging a participant in dialogue (defined as a short conversation), the participant was more willing to fulfill the request. Thus, verbal mimicry might be perceived in the same way as dialogue. If this is the case, a theoretical confound would be revealed. To test whether the mechanisms are different of the same, two field studies were conducted using a 2 (dialogue: yes/ no) x 2 (mimicry: yes/no) design. The study results revealed two main effects and no interaction effects, which means that verbal mimicry and dialogue are two distinct mechanisms. Interestingly, additive effects for these mechanisms were found.
Abstract: This study assessed how qualities of supportive interactions, operationalized from the perspectives of the support receiver and third-party observers, predict emotional improvement and cortisol recovery following a stressful experience. Participants (N = 103) conversed with a dating partner after completing a series of stressful tasks; partners engaged in either neutral listening or supportive communication. Participants reported their perceptions of the interaction and their emotional improvement, and provided salivary cortisol samples that indexed changes in stress. Trained third-party observers rated the interactions for supportive qualities. Individually, participants’ perceptions of support explicitness, elaboration, and involvement were positively correlated with emotional improvement, but participants’ perceptions of support explicitness and elaboration were associated with slower, rather than faster, cortisol recovery. When study variables were assessed as a set, participants’ perceptions of explicitness of support were associated with greater emotional improvement and third-party ratings of explicitness of support predicted faster cortisol recovery.
Abstract: We experimentally examined whether giving or receiving self-disclosure leads to greater liking and other positive impressions (e.g., closeness) in initial interactions. We also contributed to a recent debate about the familiarity-attraction link by examining whether knowledge about another leads to greater (or lesser) degrees of liking and perceived similarity. Pairs of unacquainted undergraduates completed a structured self-disclosure task. We randomly assigned one participant to disclose while the other listened in a first interaction; participants switched roles for a second interaction. After the first interaction, listeners (vs. disclosers) reported more liking and other positive interpersonal impressions. These differences disappeared after participants switched roles in the second interaction. Furthermore, listening was associated with greater degrees of perceived similarity.