This study was designed to test the proposition that group communication and members' reactions result from an interaction between the demands of the experimental tasks and the characteristics of the individuals performing them. After an investigation of the work of Cooley, Mead, Goffman, Szasz, Shostrom, Leary, and Berne, the researcher concluded that an important dimension for communication study is the personality trait referred to as "manipulation." The Machiavellian test developed by Richard Christie, for the purpose of measuring a person's manipulative orientations toward interpersonal relations, was chosen as the criterion measure, V Man is not born human. It is only slowly and laboriously, in fruitful contact, cooperation, and conflict with his fellows, that he attains the distinctive qualities of human nature.