Group vocal patterns and leadership in India: Effects of Task, Language, and Sex of Subjects

This study was concerned with the effects of language and sex of subjection social and task conversations among university students in India. Each of 20 same-sex 5-person groups, 10 male and 10 female, participated in three 10-minute discussions. The social conversation was in English or Telugu and the two task discussions were in English and Telugu, in counterbalanced order. Results showed more talking and simultaneous speech in Telugu than in English discussions. Although leaders talked more than nonleaders, the correlation was lower than that found in the United States. Analyses suggest that, cross-culturally, leadership is more highly correlated with turns, which consist of both talking and silence, rather than with talking alone.