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An experimental analogue of the initial interview is used to investigate the effects of interviewer specificity and topical focus, i.e., a low anxiety-arousing vs. a high anxiety-arousing topic, on interviewee's verbal behavior. It was found that low-specificity interviewer remarks are associated with verbal indices of caution and hesitation ("ah's," a slow articulation rate and silent pauses). It is suggested that a conceptualization of the specificity variable in terms of informational uncertainty provides a parsimonious explanation for the above findings. The anxiety-arousing topic was associated with disrupted speech ("non-iih" speech disturbances).

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Tested the hypothesis that discrepancy between an interviewee's expectations regarding the interviewer's role and actual role encountered causes strain in the communication system. 8 male and 8 female undergraduates were assigned to each of 2 groups. The experimental group was given accurate expectations about interviewer role before the 1st interview, but inaccurate ones before the 2nd interview. The control group manifested an increase in verbal productivity from the 1st to the 2nd interview (p < .05). No such increase occurred in the experimental group, presumably because the increase in strain resulting from discrepant role expectations inhibited productivity. In the experimental group, there was also an increase in psychologically avoidant speech in the 2nd interview under conditions of increased strain, evoking fewer intercurrent resistive verbalizations (p < .01).

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