Mapping the Links Between Personality and Communicator Style
Author(s): James B. Weaver, III
Abstract: This investigation reveals distinctly different communicator styles between the extraversion, psychoticism, and neuroticism personality dimensions. Data gathered from female (n = 497) and male (n = 591) college students revealed that individuals reporting the extraversion personality type endorsed an expressive and supportive nondirective communicator style. Conversely, individuals evidencing the psychoticism personality type endorsed a socially callous directive (i.e., contentious, unresponsive) communicator style while rejecting the nondirective (i.e., talkative, conciliatory, open) style. Unexpectedly, individuals displaying the neuroticism personality type endorsed an illusive communicator style that was punctuated by both deceptiveness and acquiescence. A "spiral of miscommunication" model, extending Eysenck and Eysenck's (1985) notion of a unique "neurotic social shyness," is proposed to explain these serendipitous findings.
Pages: 59-70
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