Cooperative and Intrusive Interruptions in Inter- and Intracultural Dyadic Discourse

Abstract

This study examined whether culture plays a role in the use of interruption in simulated doctor-patient conversations. Participants were 40 Canadians and 40 Chinese who formed 40 dyads in four experimental conditions: Canadian speaker-Canadian listener, Chinese speaker-Chinese listener, Chinese speaker-Canadian listener, and Canadian speaker-Chinese listener. All conversations were videotaped and microanalyzed. The data generated four findings: (a) In the Chinese speaker-Chinese listener interactions, cooperative interruptions occurred more frequently than intrusive interruptions; (b) when Canadians served as doctors, the doctors performed significantly more intrusive interruptions than cooperative ones; (c) the two intercultural groups engaged in more unsuccessful interruptions than the two intracultural groups; and (d) in the intercultural conditions, the occurrences of intrusive interruptions were greater than cooperative interruptions. This phenomenon provides unequivocal support for communication accommodation theory. The findings point to a hypothesis that conversational interruption may be a pancultural phenomenon, whereas interruption styles may be culture specific.