Talkativeness and verbal aptitude: Perception and reality

Little attention has been given to the implicit theories linking or the actual relationship between talkativeness and aptitude. In this study, we hypothesized a positive relationship between verbal aptitude and amount of talking. A correlational analysis was conducted using subjects’ scores on the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and how much they talked while getting acquainted or solving a group problem. Verbal aptitude proved to be unrelated to overall amount of talking but was positively related to pausing between the vocalizations within each speaker’s turn.