Language Style Matching in Older Couples and Marital Satisfaction

Research on marital communication has focused on nonverbal behaviors (e.g., affect), leaving specific word use relatively unexplored. Recent work, however, suggests that similarity in function words (e.g., articles) may be associated with relational functioning in younger couples. We explored if this language style matching (LSM) also occurred in more established relationships and whether it was related to marital satisfaction within a sample of 64 older adult married couples. Using a dyadic, two-wave, observational research design, our results suggest that LSM is highly prevalent in older couples’ conversations across three different tasks (reminiscence, problem solving, and health support). Only LSM during reminiscence, however, was related to wives’ concurrent marital satisfaction. We considered implications for future research and for potential clinical interventions targeting language and communication in older adults

Speakers are more cooperative and less individual when interacting in larger group sizes

Introduction: Cooperation, acoustically signaled through vocal convergence, is facilitated when group members are more similar. Excessive vocal convergence may, however, weaken individual recognizability. This study aimed to explore whether constraints to convergence can arise in circumstances where interlocutors need to enhance their vocal individuality. Therefore, we tested the effects of group size (3 and 5 interactants) on vocal convergence and individualization in a social communication scenario in which individual recognition by voice is at stake. Methods: In an interactive game, players had to recognize each other through their voices while solving a cooperative task online. The vocal similarity was quantified through similarities in speaker i-vectors obtained through probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA). Speaker recognition performance was measured through the system Equal Error Rate (EER). Results: Vocal similarity between-speakers increased with a larger group size which indicates a higher cooperative vocal behavior. At the same time, there wasan increase in EER for the same speakers between the smaller and the largergroup size, meaning a decrease in overall recognition performance. Discussion: The decrease in vocal individualization in the larger group size suggests thatingroup cooperation and social cohesion conveyed through acoustic convergence have priority over individualization in larger groups of unacquainted speakers

Speakers are more cooperative and less individual when interacting in larger group sizes

IntroductionCooperation, acoustically signaled through vocal convergence, is facilitated when group members are more similar. Excessive vocal convergence may, however, weaken individual recognizability. This study aimed to explore whether constraints to convergence can arise in circumstances where interlocutors need to enhance their vocal individuality. Therefore, we tested the effects of group size (3 and 5 interactants) on vocal convergence and individualization in a social communication scenario in which individual recognition by voice is at stake.MethodsIn an interactive game, players had to recognize each other through their voices while solving a cooperative task online. The vocal similarity was quantified through similarities in speaker i-vectors obtained through probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA). Speaker recognition performance was measured through the system Equal Error Rate (EER).ResultsVocal similarity between-speakers increased with a larger group size which indicates a higher cooperative vocal behavior. At the same time, there was an increase in EER for the same speakers between the smaller and the larger group size, meaning a decrease in overall recognition performance.DiscussionThe decrease in vocal individualization in the larger group size suggests that ingroup cooperation and social cohesion conveyed through acoustic convergence have priority over individualization in larger groups of unacquainted speakers

Uma abordagem para aumento de empatia das interações textuais em sistemas colaborativos

Empathy plays an essential role in social interactions, for example, in effective teaching-learning processes in teacher-student relationships, and in the company-client or employee-customer relationships, retaining potential partners and providing them with greater satisfaction. In parallel, Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) support people in their interactions, especially when it is necessary to circumvent space-time limitations. In CMC, there are several approaches to promote empathy in social or human-computer interactions. However, for this type of communication, a little explored mechanism to gain empathy is the use of the theory of Neurolinguistics that presents the possibility of developing a Preferred Representation System (PRS) for cognition in humans. In this context, this work presents the conception and results obtained through the experimental evaluations of the NeuroMessenger library, that uses Neurolinguistics, Psychometry and Text Mining to promote empathy among interlocutors, from the PRS identification and suggestion of textual matching based on this classification. The results showed that the use of the same text pattern (PRS) increases the empathy among the interlocutors of Collaborative Systems, evidencing that the matching feature can significantly improve the communication and construction of rapport in virtual environments.A empatia desempenha um papel essencial em interações sociais, como, por exemplo, em processos de ensino-aprendizagem efetivos nas relações professor-aluno e, nas relações empresa-cliente ou colaborador-consumidor, retendo potenciais parceiros e proporcionando-lhes maior satisfação. Em paralelo, a Comunicação Mediada por Computador (CMC) auxilia as pessoas em suas interações, especialmente quando é necessário contornar as limitações de espaço-tempo. Em CMC, existem diversas abordagens para promover empatia em interações sociais ou humano-computador. Contudo, para esse tipo de comunicação, um mecanismo pouco explorado para ganho de empatia é o uso da teoria da Neurolinguística, a qual apresenta a possibilidade de desenvolvimento de Sistemas Representacionais Preferenciais (SRPs) para cognição em seres humanos. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho apresenta a concepção e os resultados obtidos por meio de avaliações experimentais da biblioteca NeuroMessenger, a qual utiliza Neurolinguística, Psicometria e Mineração de Textos para promover empatia entre interlocutores, a partir da identificação de SRPs e sugestão de matching (espelhamento) textual baseado nesta classificação. Os resultados mostraram que a utilização do mesmo padrão de texto (SRP) aumenta a empatia entre os interlocutores de Sistemas Colaborativos, evidenciando que o recurso de matching pode melhorar significativamente a comunicação e formação de rapport em ambientes virtuais.São Cristóvão, S

The relevant and reliable language theory:developing a language measure of trust for online groups

This thesis investigated the link between trust and language in online dyadic, online group, and virtual community interactions. The first two empirical studies revealed that positive emotion is reliably linked to trust, that is to say that dyads and groups that produce more positive emotion words show greater trust. In addition, by priming group members to believe their group was either high or low in trustworthiness, the second empirical study revealed that group members produce more positive emotion words as a consequence of greater trust. A third study revealed an additional important language phenomena to trust, this was a type of linguistic mimicry known as linguistic style matching (LSM). The study guided groups through established phases of group development (relational, task, and task resolution), findings revealed that LSM in the early, relational phase, predicted trust. Further analysis of the relationship between phase of development, positive emotion words and LSM revealed that when LSM was low in the relational phase, positive emotion once again became a cue used to trust in subsequent task phases. The Relevant and Reliable Language Theory was proposed to explain the phase of group development dependent effects of LSM and positive emotion on trust. In short, the theory states that language must be relevant, i.e. the group is still undecided regarding trust judgements and still seeks trust relevant information, and reliable, i.e. in a given context, the language must be considered a genuine trust signal, and not one that appears ‘faked’ by ‘opportunists’. Based on the novel theory, it was hypothesised in a forth study that disrupting LSM in an early relational phase, and positive emotion in a subsequent task phase (contexts where LSM and positive emotion were proposed to be most relevant and reliable to trust), would have the most detrimental effect on trust. A confederate implementing these disruptions, relative to a comparable control, supported the theory; with groups who were subject to the ‘strong’ disruption producing lower trust behaviour than the control group. A final study extended finding to real world online interactions in a virtual community focused on discussing credit card fraud, i.e. a criminal online group. The discussions were relational, rather than task focused, thus The Relevant and Reliable Language Theory predicted that LSM would be the most important language variable related to trust. The theory was supported as LSM, but not positive emotion, ebbed and flowed in line with predicted levels of trust

Persuasion in Context: Understanding the Impact of Communication Modality, Gender, Ethnicity, Cognitive, and Linguistic Style Volume One Claire L.

Information is increasingly being exchanged on a global stage, and so audiences are becoming more diverse through communication in varying digital modalities. Understanding persuasion is increasingly important, particularly in response to technological change regarding the way in which we communicate and increased usage in our daily lives. However, persuasion has yet to be fully explored in relation to gender, ethnicity, cognitive and linguistic style and their influence on decision-making in interactive, synthetic modalities. This thesis sought to address this gap by employing an interpersonal modernised persuasion paradigm across three distinct contexts. Accordingly, three experimental studies are presented: Study 1 is conducted face-to-face (FtF), Study 2 utilises anonymous instant messaging software, and Study 3 introduces a novel, immersive, and collaborative virtual reality environment, which enables communication to occur in real-time via embodiment of avatars. The aims of the thesis were to a), investigate the effect of communication modalities on persuasion outcomes, b) to explore whether cognitive biases mediate persuasion outcomes, c) whether gender and ethnicity influence dyadic persuasive interactions, and d), to understand the impact, or otherwise, of linguistic style - comprising of quantitative analysis including linguistic synchronicity and epistemic modality, on persuasion outcomes. The combined results highlighted how the virtual environment was akin to the FtF modality, showing a propensity for successful persuasive outcomes and increased metacognitive confidence in attitude change. This has ramifications for real-world effects when researchers utilise virtual technology to observe, measure and train real-world performances. The anonymous instant messaging platform led to enhanced resistance across gender and ethnic groups, with males being significantly more likely to oppose the persuasive arguments as a result. Overall however, ethnicity and gender did not influence persuasion outcomes, nor did cognitive style mediate or predict an individual’s disposition to persuasion. Finally, linguistic style highlighted differences across participants, with persuaded individuals using more cognitive processing and informal language during exchanges. Expanding our understanding of how judgements are formed, influenced and modified can serve to widen discussion, and support applied understandings regarding the management of conversations both on- and offline. All findings are presented and discussed in relation to the relevant theoretical literature throughout this body of work