How authority affects social evaluations of negotiation words

Abstract

Understanding how authority affects social evaluation of written communication is crucial for understanding how online communication technologies can be effectively deployed. We examined how negotiation words affected perceived ratings of knowledgeableness, professionalism, politeness, and friendliness across three levels of authority (professor, teaching assistant, student) while asking and answering questions in a mock online forum. The greatest distinction across groups was in professionalism. For professors and TAs, most negotiation words lowered professionalism, but this was not the case for students. The greatest similarity across groups was for the words clearly and obviously. Both made people appear less friendly and less polite. Compared to the unmodified condition, hedges (e.g., kinda) decreased knowledgeableness but boosters (e.g., absolutely) did not increase knowledgeableness. One negotiation word, totally, had a surprising pattern—it helped higher authority speakers appear more friendly.