Verbal,Vocal,and Visual Information in the Judgment of Interpersonal Affect

Abstract

It is generally accepted that nonverbal information, particularly visual, is more important than verbal in the judgment of interpersonal affect. Nevertheless, Howe has argued that there is a recurring problem with the studies on which this acceptance is based, namely, the usage of contextually inappropriate verbal expressions. By employing expressions that were more appropriate, Howe obtained results that, in contradiction to visual primacy, showed that verbal and vocal information were each given about five times the weighting of visual information. However, Howe's work was restricted to the superior versus inferior dimension of affect when the evidence for visual primacy is stronger for the warm versus hostile. Accordingly, it was necessary to replicate Howe's work concentrating on warmth and hostility. This is what the present study attempted to do. Its results follow a similar pattern to Howe's, being if anything less suggestive of visual primacy. Analyses of variance revealed significant main effects for verbal and vocal information but not for visual information. Moreover, although visual information interacted with verbal and vocal, there were no signs that it had any bearing on the content of judgments.