ABSTRACT
[In chapter 2, we reported a study in which we manipulated the visibility conditions of interviews so as to contrast the usual symmetrical face-to-face condition with the unusual symmetrical back-to-back condition. The latter produced a decrease in communicative gestures and an increase in autistic, noncommunicative gestures, although leaving unchanged the frequency of those speech disruptions indicative of anxiety. In chapter 12, we report a study in which we manipulated the visibility conditions so as to contrast the usual symmetrical face-to-face condition with a telephone-like situation. In the latter, some subjects believed (falsely) they were in an asymmetrical situation in which the interviewer was observing them, while they could not see the interviewer. Other subjects believed (rightly) they were in a symmetrical situation in which neither they nor the interviewer could see the other. As we show in chapter 12, we serendipitously found that in the telephone-type situation, whether of symmetrical or asymmetrical visibility, subjects said “ah” much more frequently than in the face-to-face situation.
