Truth From Language and Truth From Fit: The Impact of Linguistic Concreteness and Level of Construal on Subjective Truth

In four experiments, the impact of concreteness of language on judgments of truth was examined. In Experiments 1 and 2, it was found that statements of the very same content were judged as more probably true when they were written in concrete language than when they were written in abstract language...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2010-11, Vol.36 (11), p.1576-1588
Main Authors: Hansen, Jochim, Wänke, Michaela
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Cognition
Communication strategies
Construal
Discourse strategies
Distant
Experiments
Female
Humans
Judgment
Judgments
Language
Linguistics
Male
Social Environment
Students
Surveys and Questionnaires
Truth
Truth Disclosure
Vividness
Young Adult
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Summary:In four experiments, the impact of concreteness of language on judgments of truth was examined. In Experiments 1 and 2, it was found that statements of the very same content were judged as more probably true when they were written in concrete language than when they were written in abstract language. Findings of Experiment 2 also showed that this linguistic concreteness effect on judgments of truth could most likely be attributed to greater perceived vividness of concrete compared to abstract statements. Two further experiments demonstrated an additional fit effect: The truth advantage of concrete statements occurred especially when participants were primed with a concrete (vs. abstract) mind-set (Experiment 3) or when the statements were presented in a spatially proximal (vs. distant) location (Experiment 4). Implications for communication strategies are discussed.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167210386238