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Language power and persuasion
Author(s) -
Areni Charles S.,
Sparks John R.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20071
Subject(s) - politeness , persuasion , deixis , psychology , linguistics , context (archaeology) , nonverbal communication , modalities , power (physics) , social psychology , communication , sociology , paleontology , philosophy , social science , biology , physics , quantum mechanics
Powerless language involves the use of various linguistic markers (i.e., hedges, intensifiers, deictic phrases, overly polite language, tag questions, and verbal and nonverbal hesitations), which signify relatively low social status in a given communication context. Powerful language suggests higher social status and is characterized largely by the absence of these markers. The results of a laboratory experiment indicated that language power influenced attitudes toward a hypothetical new consumer electronics product, regardless of whether the communication was presented in print versus videotape. For both print and video modalities, speakers using powerful language were more persuasive than speakers using powerless language. However, powerless language had the additional effect of generating more thoughts about the speaker. These results are discussed in terms of the multiple roles postulate of the elaboration‐likelihood mode. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.