Effectiveness of Role Reversal: Actor or Listener

Abstract

Previous studies indicate that Ss who use role reversal change their attitudes about the issue being negotiated more than do Ss who negotiate without role reversal. The conflict theorists hypothesize that such attitude change results from listening to one's opponent reverse his role while the literature on attitude change indicates that it is the actor who is influenced by role reversal, not the listener. In this study the initial effect of (1) engaging in role reversal was compared with (2) listening to one's adversary reverse roles, and (3) engaging in self-presentation without reversing roles. The most attitude change was found in the actor condition and the least took place in the listener condition. These results support the attitude-change explanation of the efficacy of role reversal and indicate that the initial effect of listening to one's adversary reverse roles is to reinforce one's attitudes about the issue being negotiated.