Introduction

When small groups of strangers are assembled for brief discussions, individual differences emerge along what Hall, Coats, and LeBeau [1] call “the vertical dimension…relating to power, dominance, status, hierarchy, and related concepts”. The generality in this formulation reflects a history of inconsistency in social scientists’ use of these terms [1], [2]. The term dominance is particularly polysemous. It may denote a characteristic of a dyadic relationship, specifically the identity of the individual who consistently wins one-on-one contests [3]. In this view, the individual-level determinants of dominance are an empirical rather than a definitional issue, and may include such surprising features as position in a genealogical structure [4], rather than any individual attribute. In contrast, personality psychologists (e.g. [5]) regard dominance as a stable individual trait, subsuming descriptors such as “assertive”, “forceful”, and “self-confident”.

Evolutionary approaches to human status asymmetries have distinguished between coercive and prosocial routes to resource acquisition (e.g. [6]). One version of this dichotomy is Henrich and Gil-White’s [7] distinction between dominance and prestige as processes whereby people acquire status (see also [8]). Dominance is a phylogenetically older system based on intimidation and coercion, whereas the prestige system is thought to be uniquely human, and based on freely-conferred deference [7]. In Henrich and Gil-White’s [7] model, dominant individuals use force to induce fear and avoidance in subordinates, whereas prestigious individuals possess socially valued skills and/or knowledge that attracts sycophants, who defer to them in order to gain proximity so as to facilitate social learning. Consistent with this formulation, dominance and prestige have been shown to be associated with different personality traits [9] and different testosterone profiles in men [10].

In the present study, we use the dominance/prestige contrast model [7] as a theoretical foundation for examining the determinants of conversational dominance in naturalistic interactions. Conversational dominance (e.g. [11], [12]) is an interaction-level phenomenon rather than a relationship-level or individual-level phenomenon. Itakura [12], [13] distinguishes among three forms of conversational dominance. Quantitative conversational dominance is demonstrated when a given individual speaks for more time, or utters more words, than her interlocutor(s). Participatory conversational dominance occurs when an individual interrupts his interlocutor(s) more often than he is interrupted. Sequential conversational dominance refers to a particular actor directing the flow of the conversation to a greater extent than her interlocutor(s). These interaction patterns, particularly quantitative dominance [14], [15] and participatory dominance [1], [16], are related to subjective ratings of dominance: people who talk more rate themselves as more dominant, and are also rated by others as more dominant. Some evidence [17] indicates that sequential dominance is also associated with perceived trait dominance. However, the relative roles of dominance and prestige processes in conversational dominance remain unexplored. More generally, naturally occurring conversation remains understudied from an evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary psychologists have relied largely on laboratory manipulations (e.g. work reviewed in [18]), whereas human ethologists have focused their attention on nonverbal social behavior (e.g. [19], [20]). Additionally, a handful of investigations have applied evolutionary perspectives to the analysis of textual material in mass media (e.g. [21]). However, little work has tested evolutionary hypotheses using data on the verbal aspects of naturally occurring social interactions. Indeed, to our knowledge, the only existing publication in which evolutionary approaches have been employed in the investigation of naturally occurring discourse is Malamuth and Thornhill’s [22] examination of the relationship between hostile masculinity, sexual aggression, and domineeringness in conversation. However, in that work, evolutionary theory merely provided a backdrop for considerations of the gendered nature of aggression rather than a unique source of predictions; likewise, “domineeringness” was evaluated using raters’ impressions of conversational behavior, rather than quantitative assessments thereof. Here, we use such precise metrics to test specific evolutionary hypotheses about the relationships between a variety of physical, social, and personality variables and conversational dominance, with the goal of illuminating its socio-relational, psychological, and functional bases.

We argue that observed conversational dominance may result from either zero-sum competition (dominance) or freely-conferred deference (prestige). On the one hand, when initially interacting with unfamiliar others, individuals should prioritize assessing the probability and likely outcome of an agonistic interaction. Even if the vast majority of interactions with strangers are peaceful and non-coercive, failure to make such assessments early on could leave an individual unable to adaptively deploy dominance and submission in the rare event of escalating tension; this risk warrants the uniform deployment of assessment upon first encounter. The same logic explains signaling and associated behaviors: if conflict is a possibility, consensus regarding relative rank benefits both dominant and subordinate individuals, since such concordance obviates the need for a direct contest. Conversational dominance may correspond to the unfolding of such low-cost assessment. Consonant with this position, Rosa and Mazur’s [23] classic study found that individuals who first broke eye contact with co-participants tended to produce fewer speech acts in a subsequent discussion than those who maintained eye contact. The authors interpret this result in terms of phylogenetically ancient dominance-submission signaling, arguing that initial eye contact establishes a dominance hierarchy that plays out in subsequent conversational behavior. Conversational dominance may also undermine prestige, to the extent that it reflects attempts to monopolize a conversation at the expense of other participants. Rather than conveying accessibility and attracting admirers, conversational dominance may rebuff learners seeking proximity and learning opportunities.

If conversational dominance in zero-acquaintance situations constitutes a form of dominance behavior sensu Henrich and Gil-White [7], then it should be positively associated with traits that are (1) reliably correlated with the ability and willingness to obtain resources by force or the threat of force, and (2) quickly and easily discernible. In men but not women, one such trait is physical formidability (strength, fighting ability, resource holding power/potential [24], [25]), which (1) is associated with greater anger-proneness and sense of entitlement, as would be expected if stronger men are better able than weaker men to coerce others into providing them with benefits [26], and (2) can be accurately judged even from still images of faces [24].

Furthermore, certain personality traits may underlie individuals’ pursuit of social dominance. Here we focus on one such trait, subclinical psychopathy. Psychopathy is a syndrome characterized by a constellation of traits and behaviors, including pathological lying, manipulativeness, grandiosity, shallow emotions, lack of empathy and remorse, impulsivity, irresponsibility, and frequent violation of social norms [27], [28]. Some research [28], [29] has supported a two-factor structure for psychopathy in which Factor 1 (F1, primary psychopathy) subsumes the interpersonal and affective aspects (e.g., manipulativeness and lack of empathy), while Factor 2 (F2, secondary psychopathy) subsumes the lifestyle and anti-social aspects (e.g., impulsivity and criminal conduct). These two factors are positively correlated at ∼0.40–0.50. Three-factor [30] and four-factor [31] models have also been proposed. Psychopathy is profitably conceptualized as dimensional rather than categorical [32], and variation in psychopathic personality traits can be detected in non-institutionalized populations using self-report instruments [29], [33]. Researchers have formulated and tested several evolutionary hypotheses for the maintenance of psychopathic traits in human populations, including frequency dependent selection [34], exploitation of social ecologies that promote high mobility and anonymous interactions [35], and strategic sensitivity to the expected relational value of social partners [36].

With respect to dominance motivation, psychopathy is characterized by a sense of grandiosity [27] and self-perceived relative rank [37], and recent work has implicated psychopathic traits (as part of the Dark Triad [38]) in the pursuit of dominance [39]. Research using Hawley’s [40] typology has shown that psychopathy is positively associated with both coercive (dominance-linked) and bistrategic (mixed coercive and prosocial) resource acquisition strategies [41].

With respect to capacity for conversational dominance, Cleckley [27] long ago linked psychopathy with a glib, charming self-presentation and hence with verbal intelligence. Distinct relationships have been found between the various psychopathy factors and verbal IQ scores. Among incarcerated children and adolescents, individuals who score higher on the interpersonal and impulsive/irresponsible psychopathy factors, but not on the affective factor, typically also score higher on tests of verbal and creative intelligence [42]. Based on the four-factor model, a study of male jail inmates found positive relationships between both verbal and performance IQ and the interpersonal and antisocial psychopathy factors, but negative relationships between IQ and the affective and lifestyle factors [43]. In contrast, another study found no relationship between verbal IQ and psychopathy in a psychiatric inpatient sample [44]. To date, no research has investigated whether any aspect of psychopathy is related to quantified verbal behavior in a natural or semi-natural social setting, despite its importance for understanding status asymmetries in human interaction.

Rather than reflecting competition for dominance sensu Henrich and Gil-White [7], conversational dominance may reflect inter-individual prestige differences. Interlocutors may grant more floor time to–or allow the conversation to be guided by–those that they perceive as having valuable knowledge. For example, research shows that when given a complex task for which one solution is demonstrably correct, individuals who more closely approach the correct solution when working alone (i.e., those with greater expertise) have more influence on solutions generated by group discussion, compared to individuals who have less expertise [45]. Furthermore, expertise is a stronger predictor of quantitative conversational dominance in groups that perform better at the task, compared to groups that perform worse [45]. Individuals in small task groups also differentiate between others’ substantive and non-substantive discussion contributions, in evaluating the usefulness of others’ participation [46]. Similarly, where such groups are not assigned a task, as in the present study, prestige-sensitive individuals might yield more floor time and topic control to co-participants who are perceived to possess more valuable knowledge in socially valued domains in general. This could reflect an evolved propensity to defer to prestigious individuals even in realms outside their area of expertise, as an across-the-board deference will generally earn learners greater access to successful models than will deference limited to particular domains [7].

Physical attractiveness, though not associated with possession of valuable knowledge, is an arena of prestige competition [47] and it positively affects interpersonal assessments [48] and (particularly in women) feelings of entitlement [26]. Though participants did not have direct access to our socioeconomic status (SES) proxy, research has shown [49] that the SES of college students can be reliably assessed by naïve observers based on 60-second slices of social interaction, suggesting that participants have some idea of their co-participants’ SES, a likely determinant of prestige. College class level may be a prestige marker within the local context of a gathering of undergraduates, because more advanced students presumably have greater knowledge and broader social connections than younger students, pertaining to important areas such as desirable courses, residence halls, extracurricular organizations, etc.

Contrary to the arguments underpinning our predictions, some research (e.g. [49]) supports the view that higher status (specifically, higher SES) individuals, being less dependent on others than low-SES individuals, will display more social disengagement, rather than more conversational dominance, during zero-acquaintance interactions. Our analyses afford the opportunity to test this general hypothesis as well as the hypotheses described above.

Materials and Methods

Results

Physical formidability and conversational dominance

Generally, there were no reliable effects of physical formidability on conversational dominance. Table 1 shows regression coefficients and 95% confidence intervals for all 15 tests of this general relationship in male individuals, while Table 2 shows the same analyses for male dyadic difference scores. No relationship was significant (i.e., all confidence intervals included zero), and 5 of the relationships were negative. Though we had made no predictions about female physical formidability and conversational dominance, we carried out the same regressions for females, again finding no results that approached significance. Uncontrolled variation in upper body clothing type (cf. [24]) did not appear to be responsible for these null results (see text S2).

Download:

• PPT
  PowerPoint slide
• PNG
  larger image
• TIFF
  original image

Table 1. Linear regressions of conversational dominance variables on standardized male formidability variables.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113135.t001

Download:

• PPT
  PowerPoint slide
• PNG
  larger image
• TIFF
  original image

Table 2. Linear regressions of conversational dominance variables on standardized male formidability variables.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113135.t002

Prestige measures and conversational dominance

There were no reliable effects of facial attractiveness on conversational dominance. Table 3 shows regression coefficients and 95% confidence intervals for all 10 tests of this general relationship in women, while Table 4 shows the same analyses for men. No relationship was significant (i.e., all confidence intervals included zero), and 10 of the relationships (7 in women, 3 in men) were negative.

Download:

• PPT
  PowerPoint slide
• PNG
  larger image
• TIFF
  original image

Table 3. Linear regressions of conversational dominance variables on standardized female facial attractiveness.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113135.t003

Download:

• PPT
  PowerPoint slide
• PNG
  larger image
• TIFF
  original image

Table 4. Linear regressions of conversational dominance variables on standardized male facial attractiveness.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113135.t004

There were no significant relationships between median household income and either proportion of words uttered or interruption rate. Participants from wealthier ZIP codes performed fewer sequence starts (N = 101, β = −0.0015±0.0005, P = 0.008, Bonferroni-adjusted α for three tests = 0.017). To aid interpretation of effect sizes, ZIP code median income was not standardized. Thus, this result means that for every additional $1000 in median annual household income, a conversation participant’s expected proportion of sequence starts decreased by 0.0015. Sequence starts per word uttered was also negatively associated with ZIP code median income (β = −0.010±0.004, P = 0.014). Results of dyadic difference scores were consistent with these findings: the participant from a higher income ZIP code tended to produce a smaller proportion of sequence starts compared to his or her co-participant from the lower-income ZIP code (β = −0.004±0.001, P = 0.006), even when corrected for number of words uttered (β = −0.0171±0.008, P = 0.032), though the latter result is not significant after Bonferroni adjustment. Dyadic difference score analysis also revealed a trend for the participant from the higher income ZIP code to produce a smaller proportion of words compared to his or her co-participant from the lower-income ZIP code (β = −0.0023±0.001, P = 0.028). This trend was not significant after Bonferroni adjustment.

Perceived dyadic social status difference, as judged from the pairs of images of co-participants, was unrelated to dyadic difference in (1) proportion of words uttered (N = 105, β = 0.046±0.032, P = 0.16), (2) interruption rate (β = 0.472±0.288, P = 0.11), (3) proportion of sequence starts (β = −0.026±0.04, P = 0.519), (4) interruptions per word uttered (β = −0.186±0.150, P = 0.224) and (5) sequence starts per word uttered (β = 0.094±0.236, P = 0.692).

There were no significant effects of median academic major prestige ranking on the five conversational dominance measures (N = 99) at either the individual or dyadic difference level (maximum value of ρ: 0.042). Of the 105 conversation participants, 98 (93.3%) announced their class level at some point during the conversation. In 23 of the 35 triads, one participant was at a more advanced class level than either of his or her co-participants. These more advanced students produced a marginally higher proportion of their triad’s words than did the less advanced students of these triads (N_advanced = 23, N_non-advanced = 46, M_advanced = 0.377, M_non-advanced = 0.312, t = 1.92, P = 0.058, Cohen’s d = 0.48). Relative class level was not associated with proportion of sequence starts or interruption rate, whether or not these measures were corrected for number of words uttered.

Psychopathy factors and conversational dominance

Individuals with higher F1 LSRP scores produced a higher proportion of their conversational triad’s words (N = 105, β = 0.035±0.012, P = 0.005; Figure 1) and a higher proportion of sequence starts (β = 0.050±0.021, P = 0.025), but did not produce more interruptions per minute (β = 0.155±0.10, P = 0.134), sequence starts per word uttered (β = 0.168±0.111, P = 0.144) or interruptions per word uttered (β = 0.087±0.116, P = 0.457). In contrast, when we carried out the same analyses using F2 LSRP scores, we found no relationship to any measure of conversational dominance (proportion of words: β = −0.011±0.012, P = 0.373; proportion of sequence starts: β = 0.003±0.018, P = 0.884; interruption rate: β = −0.006±0.055, P = 0.911). Moreover, a multiple regression analysis revealed that, with the other psychopathy factor held constant, the two factors had opposing significant effects on proportion of words produced (F1: partial β = 0.046±0.014, P = 0.002; F2: partial β = −0.029±0.013, P = 0.032). Primary psychopathy was positively associated, whereas secondary psychopathy was negatively associated, with proportion of words uttered. An analogous analyses of associations of the psychopathy factors with proportion of sequence starts produced a significant positive association with F1 LSRP, and a nonsignificant negative association with F2 LSRP (F1: partial β = 0.057±0.020, P = 0.008; F2: partial β = −0.019±0.012, P = 0.137).

Download:

• PPT
  PowerPoint slide
• PNG
  larger image
• TIFF
  original image

Figure 1. Regression of proportion of words uttered on F1 LSRP (psychopathy) score.

N = 105.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113135.g001

The relationship between primary psychopathy and quantitative dominance was stronger than the relationship between class level and quantitative dominance (described above). A multiple regression of proportion of words uttered on relative class level (as a dichotomous variable: most senior or not) and F1 LSRP score revealed a significant effect of Factor 1 LSRP score with relative class level held constant (N = 69, β = 0.038±0.01, P = 0.002), but no effect of relative class level controlling for F1 LSRP (β = 0.064±0.04, P = 0.130).

When we regressed the aggregate (i.e., by all three participants) number of words produced per transcribed minute on the F1 LSRP score of the participant with the highest LSRP score in that triad, we found a trend toward a positive relationship (N = 35, β = 6.65±3.30, P = 0.074). No such relationship was found with F2 LSRP (β = 1.74±5.92, P = 0.77).

In the pooled sample, there was no significant relationship between F1 LSRP score and use of affect words (N = 105, β = −0.26±0.22, P = 0.24); however, a model including (1) F1 LSRP, (2) sex and (3) their interaction as predictors revealed that (1) men used more affect words than women (β = −1.21±0.44, P = 0.007), (2) people higher on F1 LSRP used fewer affect words (β = −0.66±0.28, P = 0.02), and (3) the interaction term was not a significant predictor of affect word use (β = 0.67±0.45, P = 0.14). We found no relationships between F2 LSRP score and affect word use in either sex.

Discussion

Although a large literature has explored the manifestations of interpersonal dominance in face-to-face interaction [1], [14], little is known about the determinants of conversational dominance in non-task-centered zero-acquaintance situations. This is a noteworthy gap in knowledge, as many real-life social encounters with strangers occur in non-instrumental, apparently low-stakes contexts – yet these may in the aggregate have long-term socio-relational and psychological consequences. In addition, few studies have investigated the patterning of verbal aspects of naturalistic conversation from an evolutionary perspective. In this paper, we used recent theoretical and empirical work from evolutionary social psychology to formulate and test several hypotheses about the relationships between (1) physical, personality, and status-related characteristics and (2) aspects of conversational dominance.

Our study is the first to report an association between conversational dominance, or indeed any quantified measure of natural verbal behavior, and any measure of psychopathy. Specifically, we found that individuals higher in primary (F1) LSRP psychopathy produced a higher proportion of their conversation triad’s words, a higher proportion of sequence starts, and more interruptions per minute. We consider it highly unlikely that this association resulted from reverse causality (i.e., conversational dominance causing higher F1 LSRP scores) because (1) several studies have shown that the LSRP measures stable, real-world behavioral propensities (e.g. [33]) and (2) only three of the 16 F1 LSRP items are in any way related to verbal behavior. Furthermore, these findings are consistent with results linking psychopathy to a sense of grandiosity [27], self-perceived relative rank [37], and Social Dominance Orientation [39]. Elsewhere [36], we reported that, in a post-conversation cooperative dilemma, those higher in F1 psychopathy were more likely to defect on individuals who had interrupted them more during the conversation, suggesting that those higher on F1 prefer to form asymmetrical relationships in which they can dominate.

The function of conversational dominance for those higher in primary psychopathy remains an open question. Our findings are consistent with research linking F1 or similar psychopathy factors to verbal intelligence as measured by standardized tests [42], [43]. It is possible that individuals high in primary psychopathy are loquacious in any social situation, and this “glib charm” garners them social capital, which may be consistent with a strategy of pursuing status through prestige. However, in this same sample, we found that those higher in primary psychopathy were not more likely to receive cooperation from their conversation partners in an unannounced post-conversation social dilemma [36], possibly because interruptions were part of their conversational strategy. This suggests that others do not view such individuals as admirably successful models for deferential learning. One alternative is that individuals high in primary psychopathy specifically leverage opportunities to assess and manipulate new acquaintances by controlling conversations and gleaning useful information about them, that is, they use conversation as a means for exploitation, a pattern consistent with the pursuit of status through dominance.

Our experimental situation was framed as casual conversation, and thus lacked any overt cues of competition. Nonetheless, this situation affords proactive relational assessment. For example, conversational exchanges often included efforts by the speakers to identify common ground (e.g., shared academic majors, residence halls, etc.). We also found that F1 LSRP score was strongly negatively related to the probability of cooperating in the post-conversation prisoner’s dilemma, only when dyads discovered no common ground [36]. This suggests a readiness to defect on less valuable relationship partners (i.e., individuals less likely to be encountered again) – an exploitative orientation consistent with a preference for dominance. Two other effects are consistent with this strategic account: First, the aggregate word-production rate of triads was marginally greater as a function of the F1 LSRP score of the triad member with the highest F1 LSRP score. This suggests that conversations including people higher in primary psychopathy are generally “livelier” than conversations lacking such people. Thus, in non-directed zero-acquaintance small group situations such as our experiment (analogous to, for example, a real-world meet-and-greet context), individuals high in primary psychopathy may both produce and elicit a lot of “small talk”, and then subsequently use the information gathered for personal gain, disregarding the welfare of their interlocutors. Second, at least among males, those higher in primary psychopathy produced fewer affect words during the conversation, suggesting that their higher speech production was less about sharing their own appraisals than about extracting information from others.

Unlike primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy did not correlate with conversational dominance in bivariate tests of association, and was negatively associated with proportion of words produced, holding constant the effects of F1 LSRP. This finding is consistent with the personality correlates of secondary psychopathy reported by Lynam and Derefinko [50]. We think that recently developed four-factor self-report psychopathy instruments (e.g. [62]) would reveal more finely differentiated relationships with conversational dominance in zero-acquaintance situations: specifically, we expect the interpersonal manipulation psychopathy factor to show the largest unique positive effect on conversational dominance.

One important direction for future research is to map the conditions under which primary psychopathic traits predict conversational dominance and the functional outcomes of floor and topic control. This should include studies across populations varying in the frequency of first acquaintance situations (e.g., relational mobility) and in conversational norms marking status asymmetries and power distance. Clinical psychopathy has been linked to insensitivity to social norms [28], predicting invariant behavior across contexts, but subclinical primary psychopathy can also be theoretically and empirically associated with increased sensitivity and strategic responsiveness to social constraints (see [36]). Further, little is known about inter-cultural differences in the expression of psychopathic traits (but see [63]), especially in small-scale societies, where notions of prestige and dominance, and even personality structure [64] may differ from those documented in other populations.

We found no evidence that physical formidability was associated with attainment of any form of conversational dominance in either sex (quantitative, participatory, or sequential). Physically formidable participants were not more likely to defect in the one-shot prisoner’s dilemma (PD) game that followed the conversation (unpublished data). Height and conversational dominance were not associated in either sex, despite potential taller individuals’ greater physical formidability (but see [65]) or hypothesized greater cognitive ability [66]. These null results are probably not attributable to a lack of statistical power, because we failed to find even suggestive trends toward associations between physical formidability and conversational dominance.

Two recently published sets of findings [26], [67] suggest that, even in social settings in which violence is culturally disvalued, male physical formidability affects sense of entitlement, competitiveness, and even views regarding egalitarianism and the justifiability of using military force. Our measurements of physical formidability were based solely on naïve respondents’ ratings of images of clothed bodies, as opposed to more direct assessments. However, we found moderately high inter-rater reliability for both our strength and fighting ability judgments. We also found a strong positive correlation between these two judgments, which were made by non-overlapping sets of respondents. Finally, Sell et al. [24] found that people are somewhat accurate (r = .66) at judging others’ physical strength based on images of bodies that did not include faces. (However, those stimulus images depicted shirtless men or women wearing standardized t-shirts – our stimulus images were of individuals wearing their own clothing).

Assuming that physical formidability does promote competitiveness and a sense of entitlement, our results indicate that our male conversation participants did not view their interaction as a competition for floor time or topic control. We suggest that both characteristics of our participant pool, and the experimental framing of the situation, account for the lack of relationships between male physical formidability and conversational dominance. Our participants, like those of Sell et al. [26] and Price et al. [67], were college students for whom status acquisition via physical intimidation is advantageous only under rare circumstances, which almost never include first-acquaintance situations governed by politeness norms [68]. In contrast to previous studies, our participants did not merely fill out questionnaires, but interacted face-to-face with peers. This interaction was specifically framed as “small talk among strangers”, and we provided generic instructions to discuss classes, majors, hometowns, sports, movies, “whatever”. This framing elicited a different set of motivations from the far more typical small group experiment, in which participants are asked to solve a specific problem or discuss a controversial topic (see references cited in [14]).

In our protocol, there was no exogenous incentive to compete for conversational control, nor to assert physical dominance in the pursuit of later advantage. Primary psychopathy, a personality trait associated with dominance striving, predicted conversational dominance, but physical traits associated with successful dominance attainment did not. This is understandable if individuals who are motivated to employ dominance-relevant strategies simultaneously recognized that (1) the experimental situation was governed by norms that sharply proscribe the use of physical intimidation, and (2) the experimental situation afforded the gathering of information that could subsequently be employed to exploit others. An important question for future research is thus the range of cultural contexts and situational frames that lead more formidable men to dominate conversations. Possibly, putatively egalitarian contexts in general reduce the effects of formidability on conversational dominance. This may occur both situationally and chronically across populations. Our participants were well-educated members of large-scale societies and therefore unrepresentative, in some respects, of humans generally [69]. Interactions among strangers in our study population may have been governed by norms of equality that have emerged only with the development of large-scale, complex, market-integrated societies [69].

We also found no relationship, even at the trend level, between facial attractiveness and any aspect of conversational dominance in either sex. This result was somewhat surprising, because (1) runaway intra-sexual prestige competition, based on physical attractiveness, is particularly prevalent in contemporary U.S. society [47], (2) female attractiveness differences are known to affect zero-acquaintance conversational behavior [70] and (3) our participants apparently did attend to each other’s attractiveness, because they were more likely to cooperate in the post-conversation PD toward more attractive co-participants, even after controlling for several other variables that affected PD play [36]. Again, we draw attention to the participant pool and the experimental framing: both may have foregrounded norms that prioritize intellectual ability over physical attractiveness.

With few exceptions, conversational dominance was also not predicted by other prestige markers (i.e., natal SES, visual cues of high status, or pursuing a demanding and lucrative academic major). Although we have treated physical height as a contributor to physical formidability, there is evidence that it also contributes to prestige-based social status (reviewed in [71]) however, as previously noted, height too did not predict conversational dominance, suggesting that, no matter the marker employed, in our experiment, conversational behavior was unaffected by prestige differences. Indeed, individuals from wealthier ZIP codes may have participated less than those from poorer ZIP codes, a result consistent with research [49] showing greater social disengagement in people of higher SES. One mechanism by which this could occur is contempt experienced by higher status individuals toward those perceived to be of lower status, and this could drive social disengagement – perceiving their lower-status compatriots as not meriting their attention, and having little of value to offer in the way of relationship opportunities, high-status individuals may simply remain disdainfully quiet. We did not measure either contempt toward co-participants, or self-evaluated social status, so we are unable to test this hypothesis.

We found only one tentative result suggesting positive relationships between prestige markers and conversational dominance. More senior students uttered more words than more junior students. This finding is consistent with our interpretation that the “small talk” frame affected the interaction. Our participants’ conversations mostly focused on navigating the university’s academic and social landscape, and, in this domain, the formers’ greater store of knowledge may have led their co-participants to grant them greater prestige. This interpretation raises the possibility that a complete account of the determinants of conversational dominance will need to partition its sources into those based on individual-level dominance (i.e., taken by dominant individuals) and those based on prestige (i.e., conferred by subordinates).

Supporting Information

Acknowledgments

We thank our research assistants. Xiao Chen, Rose Medeiros and Phil Ender advised us regarding statistical analysis, and Greg Bryant provided logistical help. We thank two anonymous reviewers, particularly one who suggested a discussion of the role of status-based contempt in zero-acquaintance situations.