The Impact of Respectfulness on Causal Inference During Discourse Processing

Abstract

This study investigated how social-pragmatic cues modulate causal inference during Chinese discourse comprehension, bridging social cognition and language processing. Two self-paced reading experiments manipulated causal strength (Strong vs. Weak) and respect consistency (Respect “nin” vs. Disrespect “ni”) across coherent five-sentence discourses. Experiment 1, using an explicit causal judgment task, found that weak causality elicited longer reading times than strong causality. Notably, this causal strength effect was amplified under respectful address but reduced under disrespectful address. We interpret this finding as suggesting that the cognitive cost of processing a sociopragmatic violation—driven by mechanisms such as attentional diversion, emotional arousal, or pragmatic reanalysis—interferes with causal inference. Experiment 2, using an implicit reading paradigm, showed a persistent causal strength effect without modulation by respectfulness, and no spillover to subsequent sentences. This pattern indicates that sociopragmatic influences on inference may depend on task context and processing goals. Overall, the results suggest that while causal inference can occur automatically, its interaction with social cues appears constrained by cognitive resources and task demands. These findings offer new insights for how social-pragmatic norms interact with cognitive mechanisms in language comprehension, with implications for cross-cultural pragmatics and models of discourse coherence.