Prosodic and Gestural Expression of Interactional Agreement

Conversational interaclions are coopcrlltively constnrcted aclivilies in which participants negotiate their enlrances, \Ums and alignments with other speakers, oftentimes with an underlying long-term. objective of obtaining some agreemem. Obtaining a fmal and morally binding accord in a conversational interaction is of impOrlance in a great variety of contex ts, particularly in psychotherapeuLic interactions, in contractual negoliatio(1s or in educalio(1al contexts. Various prosodie and gestural elements in a conversational interaction can be interpreted as signals of a :'Ipeaker' s agreement and tbey are probably of impo!1ance in the emergence of an accord in a conversational exchange. In this paper. we survey Lhe soeial and psychological context of agreement seeking. as well as the existiog lilernrure 0 0 Lhe vi~lIal and prosodic measurement of agreement in cooversational seuings .