Interview behavior of and impressions made by mentally retarded adults

Interviews were held with 88 mentally retarded institutionalized adults in order to identify types of verbal and nonverbal behavior that are associated with making positive or negative impressions on others and that, therefore, might be priority targets for communication-training efforts. Video-taped segments of the interviews were shown to panels of 4 graduate students in special education and 6 students in rehabilitation counseling, who recorded ratings of personality and competence for each interviewee. Ten predictors were found to account for 69 percent and 68 percent of the variance in overall ratings given by the special education and rehabilitation groups, respectively. Certain types of verbal behavior, which were relatively independent of the nonverbal behavior, were found to be the most potent predictors. Subjects who gave adequate responses to questions and whose speech was understandable were more likely to make favorable impressions.