Language Attitudes and Social Influence

• Published in: The Journal of social psychology 1983-10, Vol.121 (1), p.97-109
• Main Authors: Ghiglione, R., Beauvois, J. L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Indexing in process; Language; Miscellaneous; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology
• ISSN: 0022-4545; 1940-1183
• DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1983.9924471

According to the theory of language attitudes, Ss may show either a paradigmatic attitude towards language (PA) or a syntagmatic attitude (SA). In PA attitude, language is concerned as a self-regulated and self-referring code; in SA attitude language is concerned as a communication tool. Subjects evaluated as PA Ss produced messages in which the metalinguistic function was more important than the interlocutory function, whereas Ss evaluated as SA Ss produced messages in which the interlocutory function was more important than the metalinguistic function. The four studies presented here deal with the attitude change paradigm and concentrate upon the interaction between (a) the discursive texture of persuasive messages (which are either metalinguistic or interlocutory) and (b) the language attitude, PA or SA, shown by Ss. Significant results are obtained as regards source evaluation, message retention, and attitude change. In each case, a message that was predominantly metalinguistic in character was more effective with Ss evaluated as PA Ss, whereas a predominantly interlocutory message was more effective with those evaluated as SA Ss.