Margherita Guidetti

Swearing in Political Discourse Why Vulgarity Works

An experimental study investigated the effect of politicians’ profanity and gender on their perceived and actual persuasiveness. Results showed that a candidate’s use of swear words increased the perception of language informality and improved the general impression about the source. The latter effect was particularly strong for male candidate, as female candidate was already evaluated positively, irrespective of her cursing. In addition, though the manipulation of the politician’s vulgarity did not directly affect participants’ self-reported likelihood of voting for him or her, an indirect effect through language informality and impression about the candidate emerged. On the contrary, profanity use reduced perceived persuasiveness of the message, suggesting that the influence of swearing could be automatic and unaware. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Looking for the “right” amount to eat at the restaurant: Social influence effects when ordering

Two studies are presented showing that the social facilitation of eating has its roots in the phase of ordering food, both in an ecologically valid context (a real restaurant) and in a simulated context (a mock scenario). In both studies people ordered a number of dishes as a function of their co-eater group size. We contend that this is due to the activation of the “social meal” script assuming a normative nature. In line with our hypothesis, participants’ self-monitoring orientation moderated the effects of group size on the amount of food people ordered. We wish to express our gratitude to Alberto Roverato for the statistical advice, Elena Bellin for collecting the data of the first study, and 14 students of the first year of Corso di laurea magistrale in Scienze gastronomiche at the University of Parma (Italy), 2009–2010, who conducted the experimental sessions of Study 2.

Advertisements of follow-on formula and their perception by pregnant women and mothers in Italy

Objective To assess how follow-on formula milks for infants aged 6–12 months are presented to and understood by mothers. Design A quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional study including (1) an analysis of advertisements in three magazines for parents; (2) in-depth semistructured qualitative interviews to pregnant women on their perception of two advertisements for follow-on formula and (3) self-administered questionnaires for mothers to explore their exposure to and perception of formula advertisements. Participants Eighty pregnant women 32–36 weeks of gestation with no previous children and 562 mothers of children <3 years old. Setting Maternal and child health centres in eight cities of Italy. Results Advertisements of formula (n=89) represented about 7% of all advertisements in the three magazines, the majority (58%) being for follow-on formula. Advertisements were parent-oriented, aimed at helping parents solve health problems of their babies or at eliciting good feelings, or both. The qualitative interviews to pregnant women showed inability to define the advertised products at first glance due to the ambiguity of the numeral 2 and the presumed age of the portrayed baby; this inability did not disappear after carefully viewing the advertisements and reading the text. When asked in the self-administered questionnaires whether they had ever come across advertisements of infant formula, 81% of mothers reported that they had, despite the legal inexistence of such advertisements, and 65% thought that it was for a product to be used from birth. Conclusions Advertisements of follow-on formula are perceived by pregnant women and mothers as promoting infant formula.

Perceived Disagreement and Heterogeneity in Social Networks: Distinct Effects on Political Participation

ABSTRACT Although the coexistence of conflicting opinions in society is the very core of democracy, people’s tendency to avoid conflict could keep them away from political discussion and participation. On the other hand, being exposed to diverse political views could motivate citizens to participate. We conducted secondary analyses on two 2013 ITANES (Italian National Election Studies) probability samples in order to test the hypotheses that perceived network disagreement (between an individual and her/his discussion partners) and heterogeneity (among discussants holding different political opinions) exert independent and opposite effects on political participation through motivation and knowledge. Results converged in showing that disagreement dampened, while heterogeneity encouraged, political participation (voting, propensity to abstain in future, offline and online activism, and timing of vote decision) by decreasing or increasing, respectively, political interest and, in turn, knowledge.

Concern for personal reputation within groups: the effect of accountability and fear of social exclusion

Literature shows that concern for personal reputation varies as a function of both individual and contextual factors, with entitativity of the group to which a person belongs emerging as a key antecedent of individual’s concern for personal reputation. The present research focuses on a further antecedent of the phenomenon, that is, accountability to the group. We presented participants with a high entitative ingroup and manipulated accountability (vs. anonymity) of their response to other ingroup members. Results showed that being accountable to the ingroup determines higher concern for personal reputation, and this relation is mediated by the fear of social exclusion. La letteratura mostra che la preoccupazione per la reputazione personale varia in funzione di fattori individuali e contestuali: l’entitativita del gruppo al quale un individuo appartiene e risultata essere un antecedente fondamentale della sua preoccupazione per la reputazione. Questa ricerca focalizza l’attenzione su un ulteriore antecedente di questo fenomeno, ovvero la visibilita del proprio comportamento rispetto al gruppo. Abbiamo presentato ai partecipanti una situazione in cui l’ingroup era descritto come molto entitativo e successivamente manipolato la visibilita (vs. l’anonimato) delle loro risposte rispetto agli altri membri del gruppo. I risultati hanno mostrato che, quando le risposte sono visibili agli altri membri del gruppo, le persone si preoccupano maggiormente per la propria reputazione, e questo fenomeno e mediato dalla paura di esclusione sociale

Fake online reviews: A study on eWOM influence when suspicions arise

PSICOLOGIA SOCIALE n. 1, gennaio-aprile 2014 Word of mouth (WOM) is a powerful tool of social influence: indeed, in the consumer choice domain, it is known that people take into great consideration the evaluations provided by acquaintances who already tried a certain product (e.g., Richins, 1983). Research shows that WOM entails long term effects, and that individuals perceive the source as believable and reliable (Bone, 1995; Herr, Kardes & Kim, 1991). With the advent of the Internet, comments and reviews about products in general, and restaurants in particular, have become widespread through dedicated websites. This phenomenon is encapsulated in the expression electronic WOM (eWOM). Thanks to these tools, consumers have at hand a great amount of information for orienting their choices, reducing their uncertainty, risks of delusions and costs at any time (Chatterjee, 2001; Hu, Liu & Zhang, 2008; Park & Lee, 2008). The implementation of dedicated websites for consumer reviews reinforces the effect of traditional WOM because these platforms enormously broaden the circle of the providers of information well beyond personal networks of friends, acquaintances and colleagues. In addition, eWOM is provided in written form and thus is Fake online reviews: A study on eWOM influence when suspicions arise