The social psychology of communication (PSB3ESP03)
Summary
Exam Summary Social Psychology of Communication (22/23) Readings/Articles Week2-Week7
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The social psychology of communication (PSB3ESP03)
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Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RuG)
Bullet-point summary of Social Psychology of Communication (PSB3E-SP03) article readings of the RUG!
Readings are according to the syllabus of 2022/2023. The summary includes all articles and mandatory readings from week 2 until week 7 and is formulated largely in bullet points, as it is easier t...
The social psychology of communication (PSB3ESP03)
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This summary was made by Maria A. Mueller.
Week 2 Notes
1) Elbert, S.P., & Dijkstra, A. (2014). An experimental test of the relationship between voice
intonation and persuasion in the domain of health. Psychology & Health, 29, 1014–1031.
http://proxy-ub.rug.nl/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2014.903482
- Speech rate, voice pitch, fluency, intensity and intonation (Betonung) influence a
persuasive process (e.g. telephone sales persons)
- Research aimed at understanding the workings of intonation as a paralinguistic cue
associated with the source in the process of behaviour change
- How intonation may influence respondent’s behavioral intention when persuaded
auditorily
- Intonation: variation of pitch while speaking, indicator of speech melody
- Intonation gives meaning to the message as a whole (including grammatical +
information structure) and gives emphasis on certain words by vocally stressing
them
- Also used to transfer info about attitudes and emotions of the speaker
- Positive correlations between intonation and persuasiveness, source status and
solidarity
- If highly involved in the message, intonation + purchase involvement positively
correlated
- more intonation -> more persuasion
- optimum for intonation in persuasion > has a limit to how effective intonation on
persuasion is the more it is utilized
- might use intonation to elicit mental representations of persuasive outcomes
- when recipient is involved in outcome, self-threat and responsibility is induced
- self-threat: the state of feeling inconsistent, non-adaptive and inadequate
- the self is therefore held responsible
- self-affirmation theory (Steele, 1988): People are motivated to lower this aversive
state which can be done by accepting the health info and change the health behavior
in the advocated direction (e.g.)
- persuasive information may also be met with defense mechanisms in reaction to
self-threat (fear control process to restore the self)
- emotional overload caused by intonation levels may lead to defensive reactions,
inhibiting persuasion
- higher intonation would lead to less persuasion
- When there is a defensive reaction at work in function of protecting the self, a self-
affirmation procedure should lower defences and increase persuasion after listening
to a message with a high level of intonation
- Ppl with perception that their health is poor: Defensive reactions elicited & might
react differently to self-threat after made aware of the possible consequences
- People aware of their poor health may relate to information of current state -> can
be solved by adopting behavioral change -> persuasive message congruent with the
own need to be more healthy
, 2
- People with perception that their health is good: no need to change as health is
already good, incongruent with the own need -> feelings of self-threat more likely to
be solved by defensiveness than by adopting behavioral change
- Study 1: relation between intonation and persuasion will be tested, intonation
manipulated into speech w/ low/medium/high lvl of intonation
- Hypothesis 1a) and a high level of intonation will lead to less persuasion compared
to a moderate level of intonation (Hypothesis 1b)
- Study 2: Replicate Study 1’s findings + unravel aspect of underlying process
regarding the lowered persuasion after listening to a message with a high level of
intonation
- In self-affirmation, important individual characteristics of participants are affirmed +
makes ppl feel good abt themselves, therefore forcing a psychological state of open-
mindedness -> people dare to face the potential threat and they accept the threat
without denial -> increased potential for persuasion
- Discussion: high level of intonation lowered persuasion but only in respondents who
considered their health good
, 3
- From self-threat perspective, self-affirmation procedure prevented drop in
persuasion aka defenses were in function to protect the self, inhibiting persuasion
- Ppl with poor perceived health status not affected by self-affirmation procedure ->
no defense processes at work, instead reported high intentions to engage in
behavioral change
- When encountered with self-threat, ppl in good health acted defensively, ppl with
poor health, acted on the behavioral change
- When recipients are not so much interested in the message, higher intonation
lowered message acceptance when involvement was low
- Through intonation information density is increased and more meaning is included in
message
- High intent of intonation may signal persuasion and therefore disrupt the process
- Intonation may provide information about the source and its credibility
2) Fuertes, J.N., Potere, J.C., & Ramirez, K.Y. (2002). Effects of speech accents on
interpersonal evaluations: Implications for counseling practice and research. Cultural
Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8, 346-356.
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-
ub.rug.nl/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2002- 18613-003&site=ehost-
live&scope=site
- Speech accents are used by listeners as immediate markers for assessing background
and character of speakers
- Assessments shape listener’s perceptions of and behavior toward the accented
speaker
- Accents have been used to evaluate speaker’s background, social status,
competence, social attractiveness, personality, and similarity with the listener
- In English speaking countries accents shown to stimulate discrimination +
stereotypes
- Accent Prestige Theory (APT, Giles, 1975): According to ATP, ppl in the UK whose
English was accented with “received pronunciation” or “first-class” accents are
generally accorded to higher prestige on “status” and” solidarity” dimensions of
interpersonal evaluation
- Status: perceived intelligence, education, social class, and success of the speaker
- Solidarity: perceived friendliness, trustworthiness, and kindness of the speaker
- Standard accents are those of the dominant group in society
- Standard-accented speakers tend to be rated more favorably than ppl with foreign
or nonstandard accents
- On solidarity ground, non-standard accented ppl tend to give higher ratings to the
same non-standard accented ppl whereas standard accented speakers give similar
ratings to both (regarding solidarity)
- Effects of accents mediated by formality or context as immediately associated with
- Accents tied to social class
- Similar accents affects perceptions of similarity in beliefs and values w/ speaker
- Nonaccented speakers rather accepted accented speakers in informal contexts while
preferring nonaccented speakers overall
, 4
- Communication Accommodation Theory (Giles, 1973): Extension of the convergence
and divergence model of accented speech, suggests that individuals tend to adjust
their accent and use of English when speaking to someone with a different accent
- Done to fulfill some interpersonal goal, e.g. gain social approval or to demonstrate
in-group affiliation
- Participants in a study tended to “upgrade” their accents to match the formality of
the context (ceiling effect)
- Men less able than women to accommodate to the cultivated accent
- Here, accommodation took place to the formal context of the situation and to the
accent of the speaker, and women were found to be more accommodating than men
- The more similar the accent, the easier the information is to remember
- Explained by the allocation of limited cognitive resources to tasks
- More attention is paid to understand the accent therefore taking up cognitive
resources for processing the information
- Accented speakers rated less negatively in informal contexts than formal
- Proximity to the receiver and formality of setting where accent is most discernable
elicits the most negative reactions
- Accents also impact (through discrimination) job competence for hiring, promotion,
and termination
- Universal-diverse orientation: Refers to multicultural awareness and an
appreciation of differences and similarities between self and others
- Speech accents influence respondent’s evaluations of accented counseling
psychologists/therapists
➔ Speech accents lead to lower ratings for therapists on various counseling-related
and status-stressing dimensions, such as perceptions of therapist expertness and
attractiveness. These results also suggest that speech accents lead to lower
solidarity-related evaluations, for example, by decreasing expected rapport and
willingness to work with the accented therapist in therapy. These findings also
suggest that speech accent effects appear to be me- diated by listeners’ level of
universal–diverse orientation or multicultural awareness.
- In-group vs out-group perspective
3) Poyatos, F. (2002). Nonverbal communication across disciplines. Volume II. Paralanguage,
kinesics, silence, personal and environmental interaction. Chapter I. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins. http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-
ub.rug.nl/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=86769&site=ehost-
live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_1
- Voice characteristics that differentiate individuals: timbre, resonance,
intensity/volume, tempo, pitch (levels, interval, range), intonation range, syllabic
duration, and rhythm
- Qualities are differentiated by factors
➔ Biological: sex and age for timbre (vocal band size differs)
➔ Physiological: long-term malfunctions or traumatized states (e.g. pitch disorders
bc of abnormal vocal-fold growth or hormonal therapy)
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