Interactions of accent and appearance in social categorization, impression formation, and economic decisions

When we get to know someone, we instantly form an impression of this person. Other’s accent or appearance can confirm our expectations to their ethnicity, but can also surprise us. Impressions made by people whose accents are surprising to how they look have not been studied. The goal of this dissertation was to examine the combined influence of appearance and accent cues on social categorization and impression formation. The first line of research investigated impressions made by people with native (German) and nonnative (Turkish) appearance and accents. Results showed that Turkish-looking target persons who spoke standard German positively violated participants’ negative expectations, and were evaluated as more competent than German-looking standard-accented targets. Furthermore, we presented a new approach to expectancy violations by assessing not only differences in final evaluations between different targets, but by also showing initial evaluations and how they changed after adding an expectancy-violating piece of information. The second line of research examined combinations of German and Turkish appearance with a standard accent and a native but nonstandard Saxon regional accent. The results showed that job candidates speaking with a negatively perceived regional accent were, regardless if they were German- or Turkish-looking, perceived as less competent than standard speakers. The third line of research showed that bias toward accented speakers can be prevented by putting the evaluators in the shoes of the targets. Participants who needed to speak English before the experiment evaluated nonstandard speakers better than participants in the control group. Overall, the present research shows that language and accent are important social cues and that bringing together visual and auditory information allows for interactions between them and yields a more complete picture of the processes underlying impression formation

Language of responsibility : the influence of linguistic abstraction on collective moral emotions

Funding information: The research and the preparation of this article were funded by the National Science Center Sonata grant (2012/05/D/HS6/03431) and Beethoven grant (2014/15/G/HS6/04589). Writing of this paper by Karolina Hansen was supported by the Foundation for Polish Science scholarship (START 030.2015-W).Two experiments investigated the effects of linguistic abstractness on the experience of collective moral emotions. In Experiment 1 participants were presented with two scenarios about ingroup misbehavior, phrased using descriptive action verbs, interpretative action verbs, adjectives or nouns. The results show that participants experienced slightly more negative moral emotions with higher levels of linguistic abstractness. In Experiment 2 we also tested for the influence of national identification on the relationship between linguistic abstractness and emotional reactions. Additionally, we expanded the number of scenarios. Experiment 2 replicated the earlier pattern, but found larger differences between conditions. The strength of national identification did not moderate the observed effects. The results of this research are discussed within the context of the linguistic category model and psychology of collective moral emotions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Prologue: Language Challenges in the 21st Century

As immigration and mobility increases, so do interactions between people from different linguistic backgrounds. Yet while linguistic diversity offers many benefits, it also comes with a number of challenges. In seven empirical articles and one commentary, this Special Issue addresses some of the most significant language challenges facing researchers in the 21st century: the power language has to form and perpetuate stereotypes, the contribution language makes to intersectional identities, and the role of language in shaping intergroup relations. By presenting work that aims to shed light on some of these issues, the goal of this Special Issue is to (a) highlight language as integral to social processes and (b) inspire researchers to address the challenges we face. To keep pace with the world’s constantly evolving linguistic landscape, it is essential that we make progress toward harnessing language’s power in ways that benefit 21st century globalized societies

Phytoplankton stimulation in frontal regions of Benguela Upwelling filaments by internal factors

Filaments are intrusions of upwelling water into the sea, separated from the surrounding water by fronts. Current knowledge explains the enhanced primary production and phytoplankton growth found in frontal areas by external factors like nutrient input. The question is whether this enhancement is also caused by intrinsic factors, i.e., simple mixing without external forcing. In order to study the direct effect of frontal mixing on organisms, disturbing external influx has to be excluded. Therefore, mixing was simulated by joining waters originating from “inside” and “outside” the filament in mesocosms (“tanks”). These experiments were conducted during two cruises in the northern Benguela upwelling system in September 2013 and January 2014. The mixed waters reached a much higher net primary production and chlorophyll a (chla) concentration than the original waters already 2–3 days after their merging. The peak in phytoplankton biomass stays longer than the chla peak. After their maxima, primary production rates decreased quickly due to depletion of the nutrients. The increase in colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) may indicate excretion and degradation. Zooplankton is not quickly reacting on the changed conditions. We conclude that already simple mixing of two water bodies, which occurs generally at fronts between upwelled and ambient water, leads to a short-term stimulation of the phytoplankton growth. However, after the exhaustion of the nutrient stock, external nutrient supply is necessary to maintain the enhanced phytoplankton growth in the frontal area. Based on these data, some generally important ecological factors are discussed as for example nutrient ratios and limitations, silicate requirements and growth rates

The social perception of heroes and murders: Effects of gender-inclusive language in media reports

The way media depict women and men can reinforce or diminish gender stereotyping. Which part does language play in this context? Are roles perceived as more gender-balanced when feminine role nouns are used in addition to masculine ones? Research on gender-inclusive language shows that the use of feminine-masculine word pairs tends to increase the visibility of women in various social roles. For example, when speakers of German were asked to name their favorite "heroine or hero in a novel," they listed more female characters than when asked to name their favorite "hero in a novel." The research reported in this article examines how the use of gender-inclusive language in news reports affects readers' own usage of such forms as well as their mental representation of women and men in the respective roles. In the main experiment, German participants (N = 256) read short reports about heroes or murderers which contained either masculine generics or gender-inclusive forms (feminine-masculine word pairs). Gender-inclusive forms enhanced participants' own usage of gender-inclusive language and this resulted in more gender-balanced mental representations of these roles. Reading about "heroines and heroes" made participants assume a higher percentage of women among persons performing heroic acts than reading about "heroes" only, but there was no such effect for murderers. A post-test suggested that this might be due to a higher accessibility of female exemplars in the category heroes than in the category murderers. Importantly, the influence of gender-inclusive language on the perceived percentage of women in a role was mediated by speakers' own usage of inclusive forms. This suggests that people who encounter gender-inclusive forms and are given an opportunity to use them, use them more themselves and in turn have more gender-balanced mental representations of social roles

Competent and warm?:how mismatching appearance and accent influence first impressions

Most research on ethnicity has focused on visual cues. However, accents are strong social cues that can match or contradict visual cues. We examined understudied reactions to people whose one cue suggests one ethnicity, whereas the other cue contradicts it. In an experiment conducted in Germany, job candidates spoke with an accent either congruent or incongruent with their (German or Turkish) appearance. Based on ethnolinguistic identity theory, we predicted that accents would be strong cues for categorization and evaluation. Based on expectancy violations theory we expected that incongruent targets would be evaluated more extremely than congruent targets. Both predictions were confirmed: Accents strongly influenced perceptions and Turkish-looking German-accented targets were perceived as most competent of all targets (and additionally most warm). The findings show that bringing together visual and auditory information yields a more complete picture of the processes underlying impression formation

When appearance does not match accent: neural correlates of ethnicity-related expectancy violations

Most research on ethnicity in neuroscience and social psychology has focused on visual cues. However, accents are central social markers of ethnicity and strongly influence evaluations of others. Here, we examine how varying auditory (vocal accent) and visual (facial appearance) information about others affects neural correlates of ethnicity-related expectancy violations. Participants listened to standard German and Turkish-accented speakers and were subsequently presented with faces whose ethnic appearance was either congruent or incongruent to these voices. We expected that incongruent targets (e.g. German accent/Turkish face) would be paralleled by a more negative N2 event-related brain potential (ERP) component. Results confirmed this, suggesting that incongruence was related to more effortful processing of both Turkish and German target faces. These targets were also subjectively judged as surprising. Additionally, varying lateralization of ERP responses for Turkish and German faces suggests that the underlying neural generators differ, potentially reflecting different emotional reactions to these targets. Behavioral responses showed an effect of violated expectations: German-accented Turkish-looking targets were evaluated as most competent of all targets. We suggest that bringing together neural and behavioral measures of expectancy violations, and using both visual and auditory information, yields a more complete picture of the processes underlying impression formation

Pressure and temperature dependence of local structure and dynamics in an ionic liquid

A detailed understanding of the local dynamics in ionic liquids remains an important aspect in the design of new ionic liquids as advanced functional fluids. Here, we use small-angle X-ray scattering and quasi-elastic neutron spectroscopy to investigate the local structure and dynamics in a model ionic liquid as a function of temperature and pressure, with a particular focus on state points (P,T) where the macroscopic dynamics, i.e., conductivity, is the same. Our results suggest that the initial step of ion transport is a confined diffusion process, on the nanosecond timescale, where the motion is restricted by a cage of nearest neighbors. This process is invariant considering timescale, geometry, and the participation ratio, at state points of constant conductivity, i.e., state points of isoconductivity. The connection to the nearest-neighbor structure is underlined by the invariance of the peak in the structure factor corresponding to nearest-neighbor correlations. At shorter timescales, picoseconds, two localized relaxation processes of the cation can be observed, which are not directly linked to ion transport. However, these processes also show invariance at isoconductivity. This points to that the overall energy landscape in ionic liquids responds in the same way to density changes and is mainly governed by the nearest-neighbor interactions

Velferdsteknologi i boliger. Muligheter og utfordringer

-Målsettingen med denne rapporten er å belyse og diskutere muligheter og utfordringer med implementering av velferdsteknologi knyttet til boligløsninger og det å klare seg godt i egen bolig. Utvikling og implementering av velferdsteknologi forventes å være et viktig grep for å møte de kommende samfunnsutfordringene med en aldrende befolkning, endret sykdomsbilde og knapphet på helse- og omsorgspersonell. Etter å ha presentert nåværende og fremtidige teknologiske muligheter og utfordringer og drøftet disse i forhold til konkrete delmål med implementering av velferdsteknologi i boliger, avsluttes rapporten med å gi noen anbefalinger knyttet til Husbankens ulike roller som pådriver, kompetanseutvikler og kvalitetssikrer