Three experiments that examine communicators' ability to inhibit linguistic bias are reported. Research has shown that communicators use more abstract language (e.g., “Jamie is affectionate” vs. “Jamie kisses Rose”) to describe more expected behavior. Recent research has shown that this bias may be overwhelmed by goals to put a “spin” on actions or to manipulate audiences' impressions of actors. Similarly, the present experiments show that people who wish to communicate without bias may often be able to do so. Inhibition occurred when participants selected descriptions from a list of alternatives and when they freely described both expected and unexpected behaviors. However, inhibition failed when participants were asked to freely describe either expected or unexpected behaviors alone.
Cole, J.M., Sutton, R.M., & Douglas, K.M. (2007). From speech acts to dispositions: How impressions of persons are shaped by their descriptions of others. Manuscript in preparation.
2.
Cratylus.org. (2006). The linguistic category model (LCM). Retrieved June 25, 2007, from http://www.cratylus.org/Text/1111548454250-3815/pC/1111473983125-6408/uploadedFiles/1151434261594-8567.pdf and http://www.cratylus.org/Text/1111548454250-3815/pC/1111473983125-6408/uploadedFiles/1151434300359-0007.pdf
3.
Devine, P.G., Plant, E.A., Amodio, D.M., Harmon-Jones, E., & Vance, S.L. (2002). The regulation of explicit and implicit race bias: The role of motivations to respond without prejudice. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 82, 835-848.
4.
Douglas, K.M., & McGarty, C. (2001). Identifiability and self-presentation: Computer-mediated communication and intergroup interaction. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 399-416.
5.
Douglas, K.M., & McGarty, C. (2002). On computers and elsewhere: A model of the effects of Internet identifiability on communicative behaviour. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice, 6, 17-26.
6.
Douglas, K.M., & Sutton, R.M. (2003). Effects of communication goals and expectancies on language abstraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 692-696.
7.
Douglas, K.M., & Sutton, R.M. (2006). When what you say about others says something about you: Language abstraction and inferences about describers' attitudes and goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 500-508.
8.
Edwards, D., & Potter, J. (1993). Language and causation: A discursive action model of description and attribution. Psychological Review, 100, 23-41.
9.
Franco, F.M., & Maass, A. (1999). Intentional control over prejudice: When the choice of the measure matters. European Journal of Social Psychology , 29, 469-477.
10.
Gil de Montes, L.G., Semin, G.R., & Valencia, J.F. (2003). Communication patterns in interdependent relationships. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22, 259-281.
11.
Giles, H., & Coupland, N. (1991). Language: Contexts and consequences. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
12.
Gordijn, E.H., Hindriks, I., Koomen, W., Dijksterhuis, A., & Van Knippenberg, A. (2004). Consequences of stereotype suppression and internal suppression motivation: A self-regulation approach . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 212-224.
13.
Hamilton, D.L., Gibbons, P.A., Stroessner, S.J., & Sherman, J.W. (1992). Language, intergroup relations and stereotypes . In G. R. Semin & K. Fiedler (Eds.), Language, interaction and social cognition (pp. 102-128). London: Sage.
14.
Higgins, E.T. (1981). The "communication game": Implications for social cognition and persuasion. In E. T. Higgins , M. P. Zanna, & C. P. Herman (Eds.), Social cognition: The Ontario symposium (Vol. 1., pp. 343-392). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
15.
Higgins, E.T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52, 1280-1300.
16.
Maass, A. (1999). Linguistic intergroup bias: Stereotype perpetuation through language. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology , 31, 79-121.
17.
Maass, A., Ceccarelli, R., & Rudin, S. (1996). Linguistic intergroup bias: Evidence for an in-group-protective motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 512-526.
18.
Maass, A., Salvi, D., Arcuri, A., & Semin, G. (1989). Language use in intergroup contexts: The linguistic intergroup bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 57, 981-993.
19.
Macrae, C.N., Bodenhausen, G.V., Milne, A.B., & Jetten, J. (1994). Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 67, 808-817.
20.
Mae, L., & Carlston, D.E. (2005). Hoisted on your own petard: When prejudiced remarks are recognized and backfire on speakers. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 240-255.
21.
Moskowitz, G.B., Gollwitzer, P.M., Wasel, W., & Schaal, B. (1999). Preconscious control of stereotype activation through chronic egalitarian goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 167-184.
22.
Petty, R.E., & Cacioppo, J.T. (1986). Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. New York : Springer-Verlag.
23.
Rubini, M., & Semin, G.R. (1994). Language use in the context of congruent and incongruent in-group behaviors. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 355-362.
24.
Rubini, M., & Sigall, H. (2002). Taking the edge off of disagreement: Linguistic abstractness and self-presentation to a heterogeneous audience. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 343-351.
25.
Ruscher, J.B. (2001). Prejudiced communication: A social psychological perspective. New York: Guilford .
26.
Schmid, J., & Fiedler, K. (1998). The backbone of closing speeches: The impact of prosecution versus defense language on judicial attributions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 1140-1172.
27.
Semin, G.R. (2000). Agenda 2000-Communication: Language as an implementational device for cognition. European Journal of Social Psychology , 30, 595-612.
28.
Semin, G.R., & Fiedler, K. (1988). The cognitive functions of linguistic categories in describing persons: Social cognition and language. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 558-568.
29.
Semin, G.R., & Fiedler, K. (1989). Relocating attributional phenomena within a language-cognition interface: The case of actors' and observers' perspectives. European Journal of Social Psychology, 19, 491-508.
30.
Semin, G.R., & Fiedler, K. (1991). The linguistic category model, its bases, applications and range. European Review of Social Psychology, 2, 1-30.
31.
Semin, G.R., Gil de Montes, L., & Valencia, J.F. (2003). Communication constraints on the linguistic intergroup bias. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 142-148.
32.
Semin, G.R., Higgins, E.T., Gil de Montes, L., Estourget, Y., & Valencia, J. (2005). Linguistic signatures of regulatory focus: How abstraction fits promotion more than prevention. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 36-45.
33.
Sutton, R.M., Elder, T.J., & Douglas, K.M. (2006). Reactions to internal and external criticism of out-groups: Social convention in the intergroup sensitivity effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 563-575.
34.
von Hippel, W., Sekaquaptewa, D., & Vargas, P. (1997). The linguistic intergroup bias as an implicit indicator of prejudice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 33, 490-509.
35.
Wegner, D.M. (1992). You can't always think what you want: Problems in the suppression of unwanted thoughts. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 193-225). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
36.
Wenneker, C.P.J., Wigboldus, D.H.J., & Spears, R. (2005). Biased language use in stereotype maintenance: The role of encoding and goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 504-516.
37.
Wigboldus, D.H.J., & Douglas, K.M. (2007). Language, expectancies and intergroup relations . In K. Fiedler (Ed.), Social communication (pp. 79-106). New York: Psychology Press.
38.
Wigboldus, D.H.J., Semin, G.R., & Spears, R. (2000). How do we communicate stereotypes? Linguistic bases and inferential consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 5-18.
