Similarity in the use of person–centered tactics: Effects on social attraction and persuasiveness in dyadic verbal disagreements

This study examines the effects of tactic similarity on persuasion and social attraction in actual conversations. Tactics used in 42 recorded conversations were coded on a minute–by–minute basis for their degree of person–centeredness. Post–conversation measures of social attraction, opinion change, perceived persuasiveness, and general competence were taken. Tactical similarity was positively correlated with partner satisfaction and global competence ratings, but not with measures of persuasion. Results are interpreted as supporting recent work using a “rewards of interaction” model (Berscheid, 1985) to explain the role of communication skills in the creation of interpersonal attraction (Burleson & Samter, 1996). Implications for further research on the processes through which person–centered behavior is linked to different types of conversational outcomes are discussed.