Selling the story: Narratives and charisma in adults with TBI

Abstract

Objective To examine storytelling performance behaviours in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and relate these behaviours to perceived charisma and desirability as a conversation partner. Design and methods Seven adult males with traumatic brain injury (TBI) told their accident narratives to a male confederate. Ten male undergraduate students rated 1-minute video clips from the beginning of each narrative using the Charismatic Leadership Communication Scale (CLCS). Raters also indicated whether or not they would like to engage in conversation with each participant. Results Of the performative behaviours analysed, gestures alone significantly influenced CLCS ratings and reported likelihood of engaging in future conversation with the participant. Post-hoc analysis revealed that speech rate was significantly correlated with all of the preceding measures. There was a significant correlation between self- and other-ratings of charisma. Conclusions The findings suggest that aspects of non-verbal performance, namely gesture use and speech rate, influence how charismatic an individual is perceived to be and how likely someone is to engage in conversation with that person. Variability in these performance behaviours may contribute to the variation in social outcomes seen in the TBI population.

Sex differences in traumatic brain injury: a multi-dimensional exploration in genes, hormones, cells, individuals, and society

“…After a moderate or severe TBI, patients usually suffer from social impairment when patients trying to return to society [ 100 , 101 ], because social and behavioral competencies are vulnerable to compromise in brain trauma [ 102 ]. Patients may show inappropriate behaviors or loss of social functions [ 103 ]. Even children after TBI have a higher risk to be rejected by their friends and lead to long-term social and behavioral problems [ 104 ].…”

Introducing the model of cognitive-communication competence: A model to guide evidence-based communication interventions after brain injury

“…Discourse may be sparse, vague, or impoverished or excessively detailed, and tangential (21,50,170). Difficulties after ABI may occur in procedural discourse such as providing instructions or directions (197), in narrative discourse or story telling (198,199), in persuasive discourse or the ability to persuade, sell, negotiate, or argue (200,201), in expository discourse or the ability to explain or provide a rationale (32,33); or in conversational discourse (52,53,147,202). These difficulties may arise from underlying problems with working memory, organization, executive functions, or self-regulation (50,78,89,105,143,145,196,198,203,204).…”

Cognitive task demands and discourse performance after traumatic brain injury

“…). In the TBI literature, Jones and Turkstra () used a thin‐slice approach to investigate associations between charisma of adults with TBI and social acceptability, finding that markers of charisma (e.g., speech rate, gesture use) were significantly associated with the likelihood that a rater would want to have a conversation with the speaker. While others have provided evidence that listeners judge the discourse of adults with TBI negatively (Bond and Godrey ), further work is needed to identify which discourse features contribute to these judgments.…”