Personality as Relational Resource in Persuasion Settings

Abstract

The current study aims to show that, like speech acts, personality is also a social resource, the latter predisposes people to relate to each other in a preferential manner. Fifty-eight participants engaged in dyadic interactions in which they were required to defend their point of view. The translated version of the NEO-FFI was used to measure personality dimensions (McCrae, Costa & Yik, 1996), and the Verbal Response Mode (Stiles, 1992) was used for the coding of verbal behavior. The results show that people who have a high level of neuroticism handle their interpersonal relationships in a reflective manner by concealing their own opinions and focusing on the arguments of other people. The same people prefer to communicate by “mirroring” other people's utterances, irrespective of the role that was given to them in the study. The findings add to the body of knowledge on interpersonal dimensions and their relations with personality.