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Linguistic Power and Persuasion

Ball State University, 00t0holtgrav{at}bsuvc.bsu.edu

Benjamin Lasky

Ball State University

This study examined the role of linguistic power in persuasion. Participants listened to a persuasive message conveyed in either a powerless style (frequent hedges, hesitations, and tag questions) or a powerful style (the absence of these features). In addition, the ability of participants to process the message and speaker gender were manipulated. Participants who heard the powerless version perceived the speaker and the arguments more negatively and were less in favor of the message proposal than were participants who heard the same message in a powerful style. These effects occurred regardless of whether participants were able to process the message deeply. There was also evidence that the effects of linguistic power on persuasion are mediated by its effects on perceptions of the speaker and the message arguments.

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