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

Abstract

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 non-conscious aspect of communication. Here, we explore if these effects hold when individuals converse using a medium limited in personal cues, computer-mediated-communication (CMC). 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 CMC. Further, the interpersonal effects of linguistic accommodation depend upon the conversational norms of the social context.

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

“…Communication accommodation theory explains how people adjust their behaviors during communications, why they do so, and the effects arising from doing so [17][18]. According to CAT, the two general communication strategies are accommodation (or convergence) and nonaccommodation (or divergence) [17].…”

Diplomatic Chameleons: Language Style Matching and Agreement in International Diplomatic Negotiations

“…Higher levels of language style matching may suggest that conversation partners have a matched focus on the following: the subject(s) of attention (through the use of personal and impersonal pronouns); the specificity and qualifications relating to their conversation topic (through the use of articles and adverbs); the temporal and spatial factors of their statements (through the use of auxiliary verbs and prepositions); refining stances on viewpoints (through the use of negations to clearly state one's position on an issue); or connecting thoughts and ideas and creating a coherent narrative (through the use of conjunctions; Tausczik & Pennebaker, ). Growing evidence supports the validity and reliability of function word matching as a measure of linguistic matching in conversations both between two individuals and in small groups (Babcock, Ta, & Ickes, ; Chung & Pennebaker, ; Ireland et al., ; Muir, Joinson, Cotterill, & Dewdney, , ). In addition to linguistic style matching, LSM reflects “not only each partner's attempts to engage the other, but also the degree to which these attempts are reciprocated” (Ireland et al., ).…”

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“…One core concept of the CAT is that the perception of convergence (or accommodation) could induce positive evaluations of the communication (e.g., message agreement, persuasiveness, and communication satisfaction), the interlocutor (e.g., credibility, trust, sociability, and attractiveness), and the relationship (e.g., relational satisfaction, closeness, common identity, and intimacy) (Giles et al, 1991;Atamturk, Atamturk, & Dimililer, 2017). This concept was confirmed by a recent meta-analysis of 149 empirical research on CAT that was published between 1970 and 2010 (Muir et al, 2017;Soliz & Giles, 2014).…”

“…Proposed in the early 1970s by Howard Giles and his colleagues (Giles et al, 1973), the CAT (previously known as Accommodation Theory or Speech Accommodation Theory) is a theory that explores how people adjust their behaviors during communicative interactions, why they do so, and the social consequences arising from doing so (Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991;Muir, Joinson, Cotterill, & Dewdney, 2017). At the heart of CAT is the concept of accommodation (Gasiorek, 2015;Giles et al, 1991).…”

“…Since its infancy, the CAT has attracted much attention from researchers and, thus, been extended and elaborated for a number of times, and applied to many research areas (e.g., education, culture, media, legal, and business) and contexts (e.g., interpersonal, intergroup, and inter/intra-generation). Although its early focus was mainly on traditional face-to-face communications, the CAT has been employed by research on computer-mediatedcommunication (CMC) as a solid theoretical foundation as well (Muir et al, 2017). Unlike traditional face-to-face communications, where message could be transmitted through verbal, para-verbal and non-verbal cues, CMC (e.g., email, instant messaging, SMS, etc.…”