Abstract
Participation in conversation in which S encounters disagreeing opinions is aversively motivated by the disagreement and reinforced by the opportunity for S to speak in reply. In an experimental conversation modeled on discrete-trials instrumental conditioning, instrumental response speeds were faster when conversation began with disagreement on every trial rather than on half the trials, as in escape conditioning studies of intermittent shock (N = 80, p <.025).
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This research was supported, in part, by funds from PHS Grant RRO-7145. Some additional details of method are given in Weiss, Lombardo, Warren, & Kelley (1971).
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Weiss, R.F., Williams, M.J. & Miller, C.R. Disagreement-induced drive in conversation: A social analog of intermittent shock in escape conditioning. Psychon Sci 29, 342–344 (1972). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336595
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336595