An End-to-End Conversational Style Matching Agent

We present an end-to-end voice-based conversational agent that is able to engage in naturalistic multi-turn dialogue and align with the interlocutor's conversational style. The system uses a series of deep neural network components for speech recognition, dialogue generation, prosodic analysis and speech synthesis to generate language and prosodic expression with qualities that match those of the user. We conducted a user study (N=30) in which participants talked with the agent for 15 to 20 minutes, resulting in over 8 hours of natural interaction data. Users with high consideration conversational styles reported the agent to be more trustworthy when it matched their conversational style. Whereas, users with high involvement conversational styles were indifferent. Finally, we provide design guidelines for multi-turn dialogue interactions using conversational style adaptation

Show Me You Care: Trait Empathy, Linguistic Style and Mimicry on Facebook

Linguistic mimicry, the adoption of another’s language patterns, is a subconscious behavior with pro-social benefits. However, some professions advocate its conscious use in empathic communication. This involves mutual mimicry; effective communicators mimic their interlocutors, who also mimic them back. Since mimicry has often been studied in face-to-face contexts, we ask whether individuals with empathic dis- positions have unique communication styles and/or elicit mimicry in mediated communication on Facebook. Participants completed Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index and provided access to Facebook activity. We confirm that dispositional empathy is correlated to the use of particular stylistic features. In addition, we identify four empathy profiles and find correlations to writing style. When a linguistic feature is used, this often “triggers” use by friends. However, the presence of particular features, rather than participant dispo- sition, best predicts mimicry. This suggests that machine-human communications could be enhanced based on recently used features, without extensive user profiling

Mimicry in online conversations:an exploratory study of linguistic analysis techniques

A number of computational techniques have been proposed that aim to detect mimicry in online conversations. In this paper, we investigate how well these reflect the prevailing cognitive science model, i.e. the Interactive Alignment Model. We evaluate Local Linguistic Alignment, word vectors, and Language Style Matching and show that these measures tend to show the features we expect to see in the IAM, but significantly fall short of the work of human classifiers on the same data set. This reflects the need for substantial additional research on computational techniques to detect mimicry in online conversations. We suggest further work needed to measure these techniques and others more accurately

Investigating the Impacts of Brand Social Media Posts’ Linguistic Styles on Consumer Engagement

Enhancing consumer engagement with brand posts on social media is challenging to digital marketers. However, it is unclear what contents work better for which brand and in what way. This paper investigates the impacts of three brand post linguistic styles (i.e., emotionality, complexity, and informality) and finds that brand posts’ linguistic styles can impact consumer engagement. The findings improve our understanding of the role that language plays in brand communications on social media

The Impact of Dialogue Dynamics in Online Service Resolution

Complaint handling by frontline employees (FLEs) is increasingly occurring in digital channels. Drawing on dialogical interaction analysis, we demonstrate that customer complaints with more negative language are more difficult to solve, but by using dominant language and matching the consumer\u2019s linguistic style, FLEs can improve perceptions the complaint was resolved

LANGUAGE STRATEGIES IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: NEW PROSPECTS FOR NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

With the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 — when negotiations have been almost exclusively carried out in online settings — there is a growing need for research which addresses this new norm. This dissertation explores how linguistic cues can corroborate or challenge the established measures in negotiation and conflict management research. The overarching objective is to study the interdependence of language and culture in the presence of technology within the domain of international negotiations and conflict resolution. The first essay of the dissertation addresses the anomalies regarding the use of the two major negotiation strategies identified by prior research – questions and answers (Q&A) and substantiation and offers (S&O) – and their effectiveness across cultures. I triangulate between cognitive methods utilized in negotiations research (mental model convergence, fixed-pie bias), linguistic cues (words with positive and negative connotations), and language style matching (LSM), a novel analysis in international buyer-seller negotiations. Based on an online negotiation simulation between representatives of a high-context (Hong Kong Chinese) and low-context (U.S.) communication culture (total sample size is 300) and subsequent linguistic analysis of the transcripts, the essay questions the notion of normative strategy; shows the conditions when the strategies have an integrative versus distributive character; identifies cognitive mechanisms which explain why S&O might be more beneficial than Q&A in a high-context communication culture; and clarifies in which cultural contexts the index of language style matching reflects a deeper, cognitive simmilarity and in which an automatic process. The second essay is a systematic literature review of studies about language in international conflict management research. The essay emphasizes a positive potential of a conflict and suggests how it can be achieved linguistically in an intercultural environment. It shows how language can give a dynamic process to conflict management. Unlike the static view of conflict, the proposed theoretical framework underscores the importance of poly-contextual behavior, i.e., how the behavior changes across contexts. By focusing on the multilingualism, the essay further disentangles language and culture, which are often mixed together. The essay suggests short term and long term strategies for a dynamic conflict de-escalation in the domain of international business

Linguistic Style Accommodation Shapes Impression Formation and Rapport in Computer-Mediated-Communication

Communication accommodation theory predicts that social power plays an important role in influencing communicative behaviors. Previous research suggests these effects extend to linguistic style, thought to be a nonconscious aspect of communication. Here, we explore if these effects hold when individuals converse using a medium limited in personal cues, computer-mediated communication. We manipulated social power in instant messaging conversations and measured subsequent interpersonal impressions. Low power induced greater likelihood of linguistic style accommodation, across between- (Study 1) and within-subjects (Study 2) experiments. Accommodation by those in a low-power role had no impact on impressions formed by their partner. In contrast, linguistic style accommodation by individuals in a high-power role was associated with negative interpersonal impressions formed by their lower power partner. The results show robust effects of power in shaping language use across computer-mediated communication. Furthermore, the interpersonal effects of linguistic accommodation depend on the conversational norms of the social context

She Said, She Said: Differential Interpersonal Similarities Predict Unique Linguistic Mimicry in Online Word of Mouth

This research examines the antecedents, causes, and consequences of linguistic mimicry, which assesses how closely individuals match others’ word use, in online WOM. We examine mimicry of both linguistic style (how things are said) and content (what is said). To our knowledge, this research provides the first demonstration of unique linguistic mimicry, where consumers engaging in online WOM differentially mimic other posters’ word use. Two experiments and one study using field data show that when consumers are personally similar to an individual who has previously posted (e.g., same gender), they mimic this individual’s positive emotion and social word use. When consumers are similar in status to an individual who has previously posted (e.g., same forum ranking), they mimic this individual’s cognitive and descriptive word use. This differential mimicry is driven by affiliation versus achievement goals, respectively, and affects consumers’ engagement in online WOM in terms of posting incidence and volume

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

Spontaneous Behavioral Coordination: the Impact of Achieved and Desired Interpersonal Closeness on Synchrony and Mimicry

The purpose of the present dissertation was to examine the impact of interpersonal closeness and the desire for interpersonal closeness on displays of behavioral synchrony and mimicry, simultaneously. Groups of two strangers (N = 182 participants, N = 91 dyads) were randomly assigned to complete a “closeness-inducing” task where partners took turns asking and answering intimate questions or a comparison “small-talk” task where partners asked and answered less-intimate questions. Additionally, dyads were randomly assigned to complete these tasks in real time over Zoom, or by reading and responding to the task’s questions over text. These tasks were intended to generate varying levels of interpersonal closeness among participants or to prevent participants from feeling close and instead inspire the desire for closeness. Then, all participants, regardless of prior experimental condition assignment, completed a second problem-solving task where their behavioral synchrony and mimicry were measured using multiple methodological approaches. Specifically, synchrony was measured using global impression ratings whereas mimicry for gestures and postural displays was measured using global impression ratings and molecular coding approaches to allow for discriminant and convergent validity analyses. The effects of the experimental conditions on participants’ reported feelings of closeness and the desire for closeness after their first interaction were examined along with the effect of these experimental conditions on participants’ displays of behavioral synchrony and mimicry in a subsequent interaction. Then, collapsing across experimental condition, the effect of participants’ feeling of closeness with their partner after their first interaction on their behavioral synchrony during their second interaction was tested alongside the effect of participants’ desire for closeness with their partner after their first interaction on their behavioral mimicry. Results generally supported that the more participants reported feeling close with one another, the more they synchronized their behavior during a subsequent interaction. Additionally, the less close participants felt to their partner, but the more they desired to feel close, the more participants mimicked their partner in a subsequent interaction. These results are discussed in relation to understanding the differing nomological networks of behavioral synchrony and mimicry and recommendations for future measurement approaches are made