The Role of Inferred Motive in Processing Nonaccommodation: Evaluations of Communication and Speakers

Building on recent revisions to communication accommodation theory (CAT), we propose and test a model relating inferred motives, perceptions of accommodation, and evaluative responses to nonaccommodation. In a vignette scenario, inferring a positive (i.e., helping) motive was found to influence evaluative responses to nonaccommodative communication, and the same communicative behavior was experienced as more accommodative (i.e., appropriately adjusted) to the extent that it was seen as more positively motivated. Our results also indicate that the consistent differences in evaluations of over versus underaccommodation found in previous research can be a result of listeners’ inferences about speakers’ motives.