Language use and reification of social information: Top-down and bottom-up processing in person cognition
Language use and reification of social information: Top-down and bottom-up processing in person cognition
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语言使用和社会信息的具体化：人认知中自上而下和自下而上的处理
DOI：
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发表时间：
1989
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
L. Bolten
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
K. Fiedler;G. Semin;L. Bolten
本研究旨在探讨社会认知与人际语言使用之间的关系。本文以Semin和Fiedler（1988）提出的语言范畴模型为基础，论证了在不同的条件下，语言使用者倾向于用具体和特定的词语来描述他人的行为（描述性或解释性动作动词）或抽象的，倾向性的术语（状态动词、形容词）人们假设了一个两阶段的过程，通过这个过程，抽象性的这些变化可以导致社会信息的具体化：在第一阶段，合作和高效沟通的规则鼓励使用关于其他人的抽象陈述。一旦社会信息在抽象层面上被表达，自上而下的偏见就会在第二阶段影响对随后具体行为的解释和判断，从而倾向于具体化或证实抽象陈述。当信息被认为是理所当然的时候，在自由交流中会出现抽象倾向，而当陈述的真实性或有效性有待判断的时候，社会判断任务中会出现相反的自上而下的偏向。研究一展示了连续复述人物描述的串行通信游戏中的抽象化倾向。研究二利用启动技术考察了社会判断中自上而下的偏向：先前对抽象属性的判断对随后对具体属性的判断的影响强于反向迁移的影响。此外，这种自上而下的偏见与主要属性对目标人的适用性是否被肯定或否认无关。研究3支持抽象语言是由于想当然的条件，显示出从抽象到更具体的语言，即使在自由交流时，陈述的有效性受到挑战的逆转。
The present research addresses the interface of social cognition and the use of interpersonal language. Based on a linguistic category model proposed by Semin and Fiedler (1988), it is demonstrated that under different conditions language users tend to describe other people's behavior either in concrete and specific terms (descriptive or interpretive action verbs) or in abstract, dispositional terms (state verbs, adjectives) A two-stage process is postulated by which these variations in abstractness can lead to the reification of social information: In the first stage, the rules of cooperative and efficient communication encourage the use of abstract statements about other people. Once the social information is represented on an abstract level, a top-down bias will then, in the second stage, influence the interpretation and judgments of subsequent specific behaviors in a way which tends to reify or confirm the abstract statements. While the abstraction tendency is expected in free communication, when information is taken for granted, the reverse top-down bias should be observed in social judgment tasks, when the truth or validity of statements is open to be judged. Study 1 demonstrates the abstraction tendency in a serial communication game involving the successive re-telling of person descriptions. Study 2 utilizes a priming technique to examine the top-down bias in social judgment: influences of prior judgments regarding abstract attributes on subsequent judgments of specific attributes are stronger than transfer influences in the reverse direction. Moreover, this top-down bias is independent of whether the applicability of the prime attribute to the target person is affirmed or denied. Study 3 supports the view that abstract language is due to taken-taken-for-granted conditions, showing a reversal from abstract to more specific language even in free communication when the validity of statements is challenged.