Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

A Twins Study Of Communicative Adaptability: Heritability Of Individual Differences, Michael J. Beatty, Lenora A. Marshall, Jill E. Rudd

Communication Faculty Publications

Recently, a model of communication theory and research has appeared in the literature within which stable individual differences in communication behavior represent individual differences in activation thresholds of neurobiological systems. The neurobiological systems thought to underly communication traits and behavior are assumed to be primarily due to genetic inheritance. As such, the model assigns a limited role to adaptability in social situations, instead positing communication adaptability as an inherited trait. In the present study, heritability estimates for the dimensions of communicative adaptability were derived from correlations based on identical and fraternal twins' responses to a multidimensional communicative adaptability measure. Results …