conversations and listening

Listening is a fascinating discovery process. What I find fascinating is listening to the same person speak in different contexts. One observation I had the other day was listening to a passionate teacher in a traditional sharing session. Out of the traditional zone, she expressed what she loves about her teaching and when asked to explain her teaching in front of a group of educators in a traditional context, she immediately went to a traditional way to respond. It was politically safe and her summary was very articulate, but I didn't hear her passion come out like I had earlier - I didn't hear "I love...!"

My question is do traditional contexts have a pre-established and subconscious expectations/protocols for participation and would changing the context change the nature of the discussion thus fostering different kinds of thinking?