Conversational styles and personality characteristics in women's close friendships and acquaintance relationships.

Fourteen women engaged in two separate conversations (one with a close friend and one with an acquaintance) and discussed two topics with different task demands (shared similarities magnified by discussing memories the conversational partners share; differences magnified by discussing revealed differences of opinions between conversational partners). Audio taped conversations were coded for conversational turn-taking behaviors such as overlaps, simultaneous speech and successful interruptions. Speakers used a conversational style that included more overlaps and simultaneous speech when conversational partners' shared similarities were magnified than when conversational partners' differences were magnified. Additionally, compared to the women partners in the conversations with the acquaintances, the conversational style between women partners in the close friend conversations was more similar in terms of fast-paced turn-taking (i.e., overlaps). There was no relationship found between conversational behaviorsand personality characteristics (i.e., extraversion).