Interruptions in Task-oriented Conversations: Effects of Violations of Expectations by Males and Females

The issue of power is a fascinating one, both for communication researchers and for the public at large. Power, the ability to influence or to perhaps control the behavior of others, is an important interpersonal phenomenon. The study of power, including its bases and manifestations, has generated a large body of both scientific and popular literature. Some investigators of power in communication have sought to identify conversational features that signal attempts to gain interpersonal power through communication. Interruptions appear to be in this category of conversational features. It has been argued that interlocutors may use interruption as a means of establishing dominance over their fellows; i.e., as a means to acquire power. If so, who might use such a device and what might the results of such behavior be? It is to these questions that the reported study addresses itself. The purpose of this study is threefold: a) to describe and investigate a communication phenomenon called the deep interruption, b) to determine whether or not listeners have normative expectations about the use of deep interruptions by males and by females, and c) to investigate the effects of violations of normative expectations regarding the use of deep interruptions by male and female speakers in same and mixed-sex dyads.