Brief encounters ending in estrangement: motivated language use and interpersonal rapport in the question-answer paradigm.

Three experiments explored need-for-for-closure effects in the question-answer paradigm. In experiment 1, participants under high (vs. low) need for closure selected more abstract interview questions. In Experiments 2 and 3, such questions elicited more abstract answers--answers that casually implicated the object (vs. the subject) of the sentence and that prompted a less positive perceived rapport between the interviewer and the interviewee. These findings are discussed in reference to the role of motivation in language and the possible interpersonal consequences of motivated language use.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes