Interpersonal Information Acquisition and Confidence in First Encounters

Abstract

This experiment tested the hypothesis that people's social difficulties in an initial interaction are lowered by instructions to `find out as much as you can about the other person. " Sixty-four pairs of strangers interacted after one of them had been told to learn as much as possible about the other person or had not received information-seeking instructions. As predicted, directing subjects to seek inter-personal information reduced apprehension, insecurity, and awkwardness, not only for the subjects who received the instructions but also for their partners. The instructions also affected subjects' perceptions of their conversation partners. However, few obvious behavioral effects of the manipulation were obtained. The data suggest that the provision of an information-seeking script is sufficient to reduce social concerns, independent of its effects on social behavior or information exchange.