IQ correlates of speech and silence behavior under three dyadic speaking conditions

Studied the duration of utterance, latency, and interruption speech behavior of 30 young male job applicants for the Civil Service position of patrolman under 3 speaking conditions: a spontaneous peer-peer conversation; an instructed peer-peer conversation, and during a clinically oriented employment interview with an experienced interviewer. Results show that none of the WAIS measures correlated with any of the 3 speech measures when recorded under the 1st 2 conversational conditions. In the 3rd condition, the employment interview, a number of positive correlations emerged. These correlations revealed that Verbal IQ was positively correlated with S's mean duration of utterance, especially when he was discussing his occupational history. During discussion of this latter content, as well as in the initial period of a 45-min interview, Verbal IQ also correlated positively with mean reaction time latency, suggesting that the more intelligent Ss wait longer under these 2 conditions before responding to the interviewer. A hypothesis was advanced that, in contrast to several earlier studies by the authors, the correlations found in this study may have emerged because the 1st 2 speaking conditions, both new in the authors' methodology, may have dissipated a common, prerehearsed occupationally oriented "set" in each of the 30 Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).