Dynamics of Task-oriented Communication: Tests of Computer Models of Affect Control Theory

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This is a study of dynamics of identity maintenance in conversational interaction, focusing on turn-taking and interruption in conversation, based on a new theoretical approach that combines the three dimensions of status (deference), power (dominance), and expressivity. Two studies will test this new model. Study 1 uses data from 53 mock juries. Identity measurements are taken from group participants before the discussions began. Event history analysis will model the risk of ending a turn with either a normal transition or an interruption. Identity information from both the current speaker and the next speaker will be used to predict turn length and type of transition. Study 2 will use an experimental design to manipulate the identities that people bring to conversations. By assigning people to roles with varying evaluative and potency connotations, then having them engage in activities to instantiate those roles, the experiment will randomly assign the identities expected to be maintained in conversational interaction. Event history analyses parallel to Study 1 will be used to test the theoretical predictions. %%% This project is a step toward important new developments in advanced computing. It employs affect control theory, a formal, mathematical model of the interrelationship of identity, behavior, emotion and attribution. The theory is embodied in a computer simulation called INTERACT that predicts the emotional and evaluative responses of human beings confronted with various complex situations. This research will test the computer simulation's predictions, and if the hypotheses are supported will enable the elaboration of INTERACT to allow prediction of small group behavior. Most importantly, INTERACT software can then be expanded to include a much larger set of linguistic terms, running on faster and larger machines, that would permit computers to simulate emotional behavior and to respond more appropriately to the emotional behavior of human beings. %%% Affect c ontrol theory is a major intellectual force in contemporary social psychology, and the sociology of emotions is among the most active new subdisciplines, so this research will be of wide interest to social and behavioral scientists. The improvement of simulation models of emotion in social interaction will have significant implications for artificial intelligence and for human-computer communication.