THE EFFECTS OF DEPENDENCY AND SOCIAL REINFORCEMENT UPON VISUAL BEHAVIOR DURING AN INTERVIEW.
Abstract
Thirty-four male college students categorized as to dominance or dependency in their control orientations toward others were given great or small amounts of social reinforcement for eye contact when speaking to an interviewer. Results showed Ss eye contact with E when speaking to him to be a function of the interaction of social reinforcement and dependency orientation. Dependent Ss looked significantly more at E when given low as compared to high amounts of verbal social reinforcement, and also looked significantly more at E than non-dependent Ss given low amounts of such reinforcement. Non-dependent Ss given high amounts of social reinforcement tended to look more at E than less reinforced non-dependents. The latter difference was not statistically significant. It is suggested that the results support a feedback rather than a reward model to explain the effect of social reinforcement on eye-contact in discussion. Limits on the generality of the results were suggested. The results were also discussed in terms of Argyle and Dean's equilibrium theory of the emission of affiliative behavior. Implications of the procedures and results for certain kinds of personnel selection were considered. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 15, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0637723
Entities
People
- David Messick
- Ralph V. Exline
Organizations
- University of Delaware