The Interactive Effects of Request Form and Speaker Status on Judgments of Requests
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1989
Keywords
Interactive Effect, Significant Interaction, College Student, Cognitive Psychology, Laboratory Study
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067314
Abstract
The interactive effects of request form and speaker status on judgments of requests were investigated in a laboratory study of metapragmatics. College students (N=132) read scenarios in which speakers made requests of them. Speakers were higher in status, peers, or lower in status than the subjects, and the requests were imperatives with semantic aggravators, embedded imperatives, or permission directives with semantic softeners. Subjects rated the speakers with respect to how rude/polite, humble/arrogant, and powerful/weak they were being. Significant interactions were obtained for the first two ratings, indicating that the speaker status effect was stronger with permission directives than with the other requests. These findings suggest that listeners view unexpectedly indirect requests as more impolite and sarcastic than requests used in other situations and, more generally, that language meaning is a function of both form and context.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, v. 18, issue 5, p. 521-531
Scholar Commons Citation
Becker, Judith A.; Kimmel, Herbert D.; and Bevill, Michael J., "The Interactive Effects of Request Form and Speaker Status on Judgments of Requests" (1989). Psychology Faculty Publications. 1213.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/1213
