The Role of Interpersonal Processes in the Interpretation of Uncertainty Terms

语言是一种不完美的交流媒介，虽然这一特性可以被利用来产生积极的效果(例如诗歌)，但它也可能导致交际误解。目前的项目寻求提供的是对可能导致误解的主要来源：不确定性术语的深入分析。不确定词是不固定的词，包括概率词(可能、可能)、量词(部分、全部)、频率词(经常、频繁)、偏好词(如，爱)和评价词(好、优)。因为它们不是固定的，所以这些类型的词可以有一系列的解释。因此，了解人们在使用不确定词时想要表达什么，以及人们如何解释他人对不确定词的使用，对于理解人类交流和误解至关重要。这项研究的具体目标是开发和测试人际过程在一组不确定性术语的产生和解释中所起的作用。计划进行一系列实验：(1)考察人们如何解释和处理不确定性术语，试图揭示其使用中涉及的基本解释原则；(2)探索不确定性术语的产生以及说话者和接受者有时在使用不确定性术语时可能无法协调一致的可能性；(3)将分析扩展到诸如权力等人际变量，并考察这些变量对不确定性术语解释的影响；(4)将分析应用于人们在自我报告测量中解释不确定性术语的方式。这项研究的成果将有助于推动社会交际的社会心理学理论，以及语言理解和语言产生的认知理论。就更广泛的影响而言，拟议的研究将有助于培养几名研究生和本科生，并改善国际和平机构的研究氛围。参与这个项目的学生将接受广泛的培训，并参与研究过程的方方面面。此外，通过揭示影响人们如何解释和曲解不确定性术语的人际过程，研究结果将具有实际意义。不确定性术语经常出现在通信中，具有重要和深远的影响，例如描述主观经验(例如，医疗环境中的疼痛评估)，传达风险估计(例如，财务、环境)，以及一般的自我报告工具。因此，拟议研究结果的潜在影响是广泛的。

Language is an imperfect medium for communication, and although this quality can be exploited for positive effect (e.g., poetry), it can also result in communicative misunderstandings. What the current project seeks to provide is an in-depth analysis of words that are likely to be a prime source of misunderstanding: uncertainty terms. Uncertainty terms are words that are not fixed and include probability words (possible, likely), quantifiers (some, all), frequency terms (often, frequently), preference terms (like, love), and terms of evaluation (good, excellent). Because they are not fixed, these types of words can admit a range of interpretations. Hence understanding what people intend to convey when they use an uncertainty term, and how people interpret another's use of an uncertainty term, is critical for understanding human communication and miscommunication. The specific objective of the proposed research is to develop and test a comprehensive account of the role played by interpersonal processes in the production and interpretation of a group of uncertainty terms. A series of experiments is planned that will: (1) examine how people interpret and process uncertainty terms in an attempt to uncover basic interpretive principles involved in their use, (2) explore the production of uncertainty terms and the possibility that speakers and recipients may sometimes fail to coordinate in their use of uncertainty terms, (3) extend the analysis to interpersonal variables such as power and examine the impact of these variables on the interpretation of uncertainty terms, and (4) apply the analysis to the manner in which people interpret uncertainty terms in self-report measures. The results of this project will help advance social psychological theories of social communication as well as cognitive theories of language comprehension and production. In terms of broader impact, the proposed research will contribute to the training of several graduate and undergraduate students and improve the research climate at the PI's home institution. Students who participate in this project will be extensively trained and participate in all facets of the research process. In addition, the results will have practical implication by bringing to light interpersonal processes that influence how people interpret, and misinterpret, uncertainty terms. Uncertainty terms appear frequently in communications with important and far-reaching consequences such as the description of subjective experience (e.g., pain assessment in a medical setting), conveying estimates of risk (e.g., financial, environmental), and self-report instruments in general. Hence, the potential impact of the results of the proposed research is extensive.