It's Not What She Says, It's How She Says It: The Influence of Language Complexity and Cognitive Load on the Persuasiveness of Expert Testimony

Mock jurors rely on a variety of heuristics and stereotypes about expert witnesses when evaluating their testimony. Research indicates that these extra-legal cues have their greatest impact when expert testimony is complex and so processed in a less effortful manner. Previous work suggests that lang...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry, psychology, and law psychology, and law, 2013-08, Vol.20 (4), p.578-589
Main Authors: McKimmie, Blake M., Newton, Sara A., Schuller, Regina A., Terry, Deborah J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cues
expert testimony
Gender
Heuristics
Judgments
Jurors
jury decision-making
language complexity
Stereotypes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Mock jurors rely on a variety of heuristics and stereotypes about expert witnesses when evaluating their testimony. Research indicates that these extra-legal cues have their greatest impact when expert testimony is complex and so processed in a less effortful manner. Previous work suggests that language complexity may also be related to stereotypes about expert gender. This research tested the hypothesis that complex language is seen as stereotypically associated with male experts, whereas simple language is associated with female experts, and that such expectations about the gender orientation of the expert's language influence mock jurors' judgments such that they would be more persuaded when an expert used language that matched his/her gender. Results provided some support for predictions, primarily when the expert was female.
ISSN:1321-8719
1934-1687
DOI:10.1080/13218719.2012.727068