Abstract

The present research addresses the following question: What is the likelihood that the usage of certain
relationship-establishing speech-acts is more prevalent among those who differ by measures that we call
personality? This study used a speech act taxonomy established in the literature. The Chinese-Personality
-at-Work personality scale was used as measures of personal predispositions. In a dyadic design, 16 995
utterances in 29 pairs of students’ dialogue were video-recorded, transcribed, and then coded. The results
indicate that different relational strategies are linked to a given personality trait such that it predisposes the
person to relate to another in a certain way. The results expand the circumplex model to include verbal behavior
in accounting for personality differences.

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