Communication Format Preference and Interest Orientation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Broad extraversion scores may obscure differences in the communication people prefer and the interests that sustain their engagement. This theoretical article proposes a framework organized around two contrasts: preference for dyadic versus reciprocal group communication and relative interest in particular people versus ideas. Audience-directed communication is assessed separately, while absolute attraction and interest intensity distinguish balanced engagement from low motivation. Interest in particular individuals is differentiated from motives for status, recognition, and influence. The framework separates anticipated attraction, experienced enjoyment, and energetic and tension-related costs, allowing valued social contact to coexist with exhaustion. A focal hypothesis predicts greater fatigue following wanted contact among people combining strong interest in individuals with low extraversion. A proposed model of communication load and recovery incorporates episode-entry demands, contact duration, capacity-limited recipient tracking, and recovery between episodes. It yields nonlinear predictions about audience size and distinguishes the contributions of contact volume, fragmentation, and spacing to accumulated fatigue. Separate hypotheses address allocation between interests and the relationship between concentration and intensity, accounting for arithmetic effects that can produce misleading differences between balanced and polarized profiles. Seventeen hypotheses guide psychometric validation, daily-life assessment, and experiments, emphasizing predictive value beyond established personality and interest measures. The article reports no original empirical data. Its contribution is a falsifiable integration of communication structure, motivational content, and experienced cost, with explicit criteria for evaluating and revising its claims.
Author: Rabinovich, Ilya
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223565709