What is the most powerful word in the English language? Ill take a different approach to this question. Researches have long studied words and word patterns that make the speaker seem powerful vs. powerless. There are seven features in particular that, when used together, create a “powerless” speech style. Powerless style includes the use of: intensifiers (“very”, “so”), hedges (“kinda”, “I guess”), overly correct/formal grammar, hesitations (“um”, “you know”), gestures, questioning forms (rising intonation), and polite forms (“please”, “sir”). Powerful style is defined as the absence of these features. Much of this identification stems from a paper by George Lakoff (1973) entitled Womens Language. Researches subsequently have concluded that these qualities are not women-specific, but rather, power and status-specific (e.g., Erikson, Lind, Johnson, and OBarr 1978). Numerous studies have shown that in general, the speaker of a powerful style passage is judged as more attractive, intelligent, competent, powerful and persuasive than a speaker of a powerless style passage (e.g., Bradac et. al. 1981, Bradac & Mulac 1984, Holtgraves & Lasky 1999, Hemphill & Tardy 1981). The effect is strong, and holds even when it is incongruent with the known status of the speaker. It is powerful enough to effect a mock-jury decisions of culpability and damages (Erikson et. al. 1978) even when jury members are explicitly told to discount speech styles (Conley et. al. 1979). Also, James Pennebaker, a psychology researcher at the University of Texas, Austin has shown that people in high power positions use the word you more and the word I less than people in low power positions. But thus far, no studies that Im aware of have shown if this pattern can actually change power perceptions, rather than just reflect circumstance.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 08:54:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015