Susan A. Siltanen

Employment Interview Outcomes and Speech Style Effects

This study examines the effects of powerful versus powerless speech styles on employment interview outcomes, extending and refining research by Wiley and Eskilson. Undergraduate and professional respondents listened to one of eight audiotaped interviews manipulated by speech style, interviewer gender, and interviewee gender and evaluated the interviewees’ dynamism, social attractiveness, competence, and employability on Likert-type scales. Results indicate that a powerful speech style results in positive attributions of competence and employability and that professional respondents evaluated the speech styles differently than did undergraduates. Implications for the employment interview are discussed, and directions for future research are also identified.

Powerful and Powerless Language Forms Their Consequences for Impression Formation, Attributions of Control of Self and Control of Others, Cognitive Responses, and Message Memory

This study investigates the effect of hedges, tag questions, intensifiers, and powerful messages on four sets of dependent variables: speaker evaluation, control of self and control of others attributions, cognitive responses, and message memorability. The results show that the four message types differ across measures of dynamism, control of self and control of others attributions, and three cognitive response categories. For the speakerevaluation and control-attribution variables, intensifiers are evaluated most positively and hedges are evaluated most negatively. On the cognitive-response measures, a more mixed pattern of results emerges. The results are discussed in terms of their importance for understanding the cognitive processing of these four message types.

THE IMPACT OF POWER-OF- SPEECH STYLE, ARGUMENT STRENGTH, AND NEED FOR COGNITION ON IMPRESSION FORMATION, COGNITIVE RESPONSES, AND PERSUASION

This study investigated the impact of power-of-speech style, need for cognition, and argument quality on participants’ perceptions of a speaker, cognitive responses, and attitude toward the topic. Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion, it was hypothesized that the three independent variables would interact to affect cognitive responses and attitude toward the topic. The results did not support the hypothesis. Path analysis was also used to analyze the data. The path analysis revealed that power-of-speech style had a small, direct effect on attitude and several, indirect effects mediated by cognitive response categories. Argument quality had a direct effect on attitude toward topic. The results are discussed in terms of their importance for the persuasive effects of power-of-speech style, with specific focus on the role of speech style in an ELM framework.

Hedges, Tag Questions, Message Processing, and Persuasion

This study explored the effects of tag questions, hedges, and argument quality on receivers’ perceptions of a speaker, perceptions of message quality, cognitive responses, and attitude change. The results showed that tag questions and argument quality directly affected speaker and message quality perceptions and cognitive responses. They also interacted to directly affect perceptions of the speaker’s power and credibility. Mediational analyses also showed that tag questions and argument quality had indirect effects on attitude change. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the cognitive processing of and research on linguistic markers of powerlessness.

“Butterflies are rainbows?”: A developmental investigation of metaphor Comprehension

This study identifies stages children progress through in acquiring adult metaphor comprehension and develops a more complex coding scheme based on theoretical clarifications of metaphor and metaphor comprehension. Five hypotheses based on the stages are tested. Specifically, 246 subjects from 3 to 31‐years are given a 16‐item comprehension test. Subjects’ open‐ended responses are coded: no comprehension, literal comprehension, perceptually grounded, conceptually grounded, and/or combined metaphor comprehension. Results supported the hypotheses that 5‐year‐olds comprehend easy metaphors via perceptually grounded categories; 6 to 8‐year‐olds comprehend easy and some moderate metaphors via perceptually grounded categories primarily; 9 to 11‐year‐olds comprehend easy, moderate, and some difficult metaphors via perceptually and some conceptually grounded categories; and subjects 12‐years‐plus comprehend easy, moderate, and difficult metaphors via some perceptually and more conceptually grounded categories.

The effects of powerful and powerless speech styles and speaker expertise on impression formation and attitude change

This study examines the effect of three levels of speaker expertise and two features of powerful and powerless speech styles‐hedges and hesitations‐on impression formation and attitude change. The study found that levels of speaker expertise interacted with the presence or absence of hedges to affect impressions of speaker authoritativeness. Speaker expertise also interacted with the presence or absence of hesitations to change attitudes toward the speakers message. The results are discussed in terms of their importance for the persuasive impact of powerful and powerless speech styles and their implications for expectancy violation theory as an explanation for power of speech style effects.

Relationship Intimacy, Need for Privacy, and Privacy Restoration Behaviors.

This study had two purposes: 1) to examine the relationship between relationship intimacy, type of privacy violation, and privacy restoration behaviors, and 2) to examine the relationship between need for privacy and these other three variables. The results showed that relationship intimacy and privacy violation type interacted to affect the likelihood of using interaction control restoration strategies. Need for not neighboring interacted with type of privacy invasion to affect the likelihood of using expression of negative arousal strategies.