Personality and situation effects on interpersonal influence tactic selection.
Item
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Title
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Personality and situation effects on interpersonal influence tactic selection.
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Identifier
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AAI9707097
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identifier
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9707097
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Creator
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Guglielmo, Francis.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Donald L. Levine
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social | Psychology, Personality | Psychology, Industrial
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Abstract
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Research into the topic of interpersonal influence tactic selection has followed two lines of investigation. In one line of research, taxonomies of interpersonal influence tactics have been created. Work by David Kipnis and his colleagues predominates in this area and takes a mid-level approach to organizing these behaviors. A second line of research has focused on situational antecedents to the selection of particular influence tactics when one wishes to exert power in an interpersonal encounter. This research has uncovered several distinct situational variables which affect influence tactic selection. These include: the affective relationship between the target and exerter of influence attempts, a desire for a continuing relationship between parties, disparities in the degree of relative power, expected resistance to the influence attempt and the specific goals of the individual exerting influence. Personality variables, in particular, consideration of the effect of personality systems on influence tactic selection, have been largely ignored.;The present research examines interpersonal influence tactic selection from the point of view of a particular personality system, i.e., E. Fromm's character typologies. Fromm outlined four distinct character types: Marketing, Hoarding, Exploitive and Receptive, which describe the way an individual characteristically seeks to interact with others. It is hypothesized that these character types will affect the influence tactic an individual chooses to employ under differing situational constraints.;To examine the effect of these character types subjects completed a Paired Adjectives Checklist which identified their predominant character type. The development of this checklist is described. Subjects participated in three role play situations. These situations were manipulated to create conditions hypothesized to lead to the selection of "strong," "weak" or "mixed" influence tactics. A {dollar}3\times 4{dollar} within-subjects repeated measures MANOVA was used to test the hypothesized interactions between situational variables (3 levels) and character type (4 levels) on the frequency of influence tactic selection.;Results demonstrated strong support for the impact of situational cues on influence tactic selection. The MANOVA analysis did not provide support for the mediating effect of Fromm character type. However, subsequent correlational analysis demonstrated the effect of the Exploitive and Marketing character types on influence tactic selection. Specifically, subjects' Hoarding type scores on the Paired Adjectives Checklist where significantly related to the use of strong influence tactics under both strong and weak situational cues. Subjects' Marketing character scores where shown to be significantly related to their use of weak influence tactics under both weak and strong situational conditions. No support was found for the effects of the Receptive and Exploitive character types on influence tactic selection. Results of the study indicate that an individual's orientation toward Fromm's Marketing and Hoarding types mediate their interpretation and response to social cues leading to behaviors which may be situationally inappropriate.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
