VARYING SEQUENCES OF AUDIENCE ATTENTIVENESS INATTENTIVENESS AND SPEECH BEHAVIOR
In order to determine the effects of audience inattentiveness on speech behavior, forty speakers were ran domly assigned to one of four experimental conditions in which audience attentiveness-inattentiveness were varied systematically. Effects of audience inattentiveness were assessed by measuring changes in speech dis turbances, verbal rate, vocabulary diversification, and filled pauses. Hypotheses concerning habituation and adaptation of speakers experiencing inattentiveness were not confirmed. Results did reveal, however, that Ss in inattentive conditions tended to terminate their speeches early. In addition, an increase in the filled pause ratio of Ss experiencing the fully attentive condition indicated adaptive behavior.