A COMPARISON OF VERBAL BEHAVIORS AND INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTIONS BETWEEN INITIAL INTRACULTURAL AND INTERCULTURAL INTERACTIONS (UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION, COMMUNICATION, INTIMACY, SIMILARITY, ATTRACTION)

This study compares verbal behaviors and perceptions observed in intracultural and intercultural interactions between strangers. Employing uncertainty reduction theory as a theoretical foundation, four verbal variables (i.e., frequency of self-presentations and verbal interrogations, and intimacy levels of self-presentations and verbal interrogations) and three perceptual variables (homophily, attraction, and attributional confidence) are compared.

Regarding the verbal variables, three hypotheses are tested: (1) the verbal behaviors would change within the course of initial interactions (Time effect), (2) verbal behaviors would differ between intracultural and intercultural interactions (Interaction Types effect), and (3) an interaction effect is expected between the two preceding main effects. Concerning the perceptual variables, only the hypothesis of Interaction Types is tested.

An experiment was conducted to observe the initial interactions. In the intracultural interactions, each of three American confederates interacted with 11 subjects. In the intercultural interactions, each of three Japanese confederates met with 11 subjects. In total, 66 American university students were used as subjects. Each initial interaction was 30-minutes long, tape-recorded, and transcribed. Following the interactions, subjects responded to a questionnaire measuring the perceptual variables. Using a special coding form, data for the verbal variables were obtained from the recordings and transcriptions. The data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analyses of variance.

The results indicate that the verbal behaviors mostly vary as time progressed in initial interactions. However, the behaviors rarely differ between intracultural and intercultural interactions. Additionally, no significant interaction is observed between the Time and the Interaction Types effects. In short, the verbal behaviors appear to change similarly over time in intracultural and intercultural interactions. At the perceptual level, the subjects in intracultural interactions perceive their confederates to be more similar than those in intercultural interactions. However, this difference in perceived similarity does not result in differences in perceived attraction or uncertainty. In general, the results suggest that intercultural interactions may not be as dissimilar from intracultural interactions as has been traditionally assumed. Additionally, uncertainty reduction theory may be weak in claiming a positive relationship between similarity and uncertainty reduction.