{"id":2489,"date":"2020-01-23T16:38:09","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T21:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/aer\/?p=2489"},"modified":"2021-12-16T14:56:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:56:57","slug":"its-how-you-say-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s HOW You Say It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tremendous time and effort are spent on word choice \u2013 drafting the perfect motion in limine<\/em>, opening statement, and\/or closing argument.\u00a0 However, it may be that the more time spent on how<\/em> the ideas are delivered will enhance persuasion more than the words used.<\/p>\n

This is brought home in a new research paper, How The Voice Persuades<\/em>.\u00a0 Van Zant, A. B., & Berger, J. (2019, June 13). How the Voice Persuades. Journal of Personality and <\/em>Social Psychology<\/em>. Advance online publication. http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1037\/pspi0000193<\/a><\/p>\n

The focus here is on \u201cparalanguage,\u201d defined as the use of the voice \u2013 sound, pitch, volume, speed of delivery \u2013 and nonverbal communication such as gesture, pausing, and movement.<\/p>\n

The importance of paralanguage has not escaped judicial attention.\u00a0 One case explained that an appellate court must defer to a jury\u2019s interpretation of<\/p>\n

an audio-recorded statement as opposed to a written transcript. Spoken language contains\u00a0more communicative information than the mere words because spoken language contains “paralanguage”\u2014that is, the “vocal signs perceptible to the human ear that are not actual words.” Keith A. Gorgos, Lost in Transcription: Why the Video Record Is Actually Verbatim<\/em>, 57 Buff. L. Rev. 1057, 1107 (2009). Paralanguage includes “quality of voice (shrill, smooth, shaky, gravely, whiny, giggling), variations in pitch, intonation, stress, emphasis, breathiness, volume, extent (how drawn out or clipped speech is), hesitations or silent pauses, filled pauses or speech fillers (e.g., ‘um\/uhm,’ ‘hmm,’ ‘er’), the rate of speech, and extra-speech sounds such as hissing, shushing, whistling, and imitations sounds.” Gorgos, supra<\/em> at 1108. The information expressed through paralanguage is rarely included in the transcript, as there is generally no written counterpart for these features of speech. Gorgos, supra<\/em> at 1109.<\/p>\n

People v. Hadden, 2015 IL App (4th) 140226, P28, 44 N.E.3d 681, 685-686, 2015 Ill. App. LEXIS 953, *10-11, 398 Ill. Dec. 652, 656-657.<\/p>\n

How The Voice Persuades<\/em> put paralanguage to the test, seeing whether how a message was delivered impacts listener receptivity, in particular whether the audience will believe the presenter\u2019s contention.<\/p>\n

A series of experiments was conducted where the effect of paralanguage was assessed.\u00a0 Important to the researchers were two phenomena \u2013 detectability and confidence.\u00a0 \u201cDetectability\u201d addresses whether the listener can detect a goal of being manipulated, one that is often found in word selection but less manifestly in how words are delivered.\u00a0 \u201cConfidence\u201d is the speaker conveying \u201cattitude certainty,\u201d i.e., <\/em>a strong subjective belief in the expressed belief(s).<\/p>\n

In one experiment, speakers either did or did not disclose that they had been paid to review the item (a tv) they were promoting.\u00a0 While disclosure of course allows detectability, the impact of paralanguage- varying the presentation in its delivery \u2013 increased receptivity of the message even when the speaker\u2019s intent was disclosed.\u00a0 As the study reports, \u201ceven when presented with information known to increase the salience of communicators\u2019 persuasive intentions, participants did not become more likely to resist paralinguistic attempts.\u201d\u00a0 Plain English \u2013 even when listeners were told that the speaker was paid to review the item, paralanguage made more people receptive to the message that this was a good tv to purchase.\u00a0 One conclusion was that speaker confidence overrode the distrust of knowing the presenter has an agenda.<\/p>\n

And which paralanguage cues were most effective?\u00a0 Again, the report details the findings:<\/p>\n

Speakers were more persuasive when they spoke at a higher volume (z <\/em>_ 2.64, p <\/em>_ .008) and when they varied their volume (z <\/em>_ 2.14, p <\/em>_ .033). Notably, these two cues were both displayed by speakers when engaging in paralinguistic persuasion attempts. Though speakers increased their pitch, pitch variability, and speech rate during paralinguistic attempts, these cues did not impact attitudes\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[S]peakers\u2019 paralinguistic persuasion strategy of increasing their volume and varying their volume made them appear more confident, which in turn made them more persuasive.<\/p>\n

What is the upshot?\u00a0 The authors acknowledge the need for further research, and urge that more be done to assess whether additional variables \u2013 in particular \u201cincreased pitch, increased speech rate and fewer pauses\u201d will also impact acceptance.\u00a0 And in domains where accurate judgments are paramount[,]\u201d it will be \u201cfaster speech rate, fewer pauses and falling intonation\u201d that may enhance listener acceptance.<\/p>\n

For now, the lesson is simple \u2013 just as we were once taught that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d it is sound as well as content that may be core to persuasion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tremendous time and effort are spent on word choice \u2013 drafting the perfect motion in limine, opening statement, and\/or closing argument.\u00a0 However, it may be that the more time spent on how the ideas are delivered will enhance persuasion more than the words used. This is brought home in a new research paper, How The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,11],"tags":[],"coauthors":[238],"class_list":["post-2489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-advocacy-and-evidence-blog","category-trial-advocacy"],"yoast_head":"\nIt's HOW You Say It - Advocacy and Evidence Resources<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The lesson is simple \u2013 just as we were once taught that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d it is sound as well as content that may be core to persuasion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It's HOW You Say It - Advocacy and Evidence Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The lesson is simple \u2013 just as we were once taught that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d it is sound as well as content that may be core to persuasion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-23T21:38:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T14:56:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e\"},\"headline\":\"It’s HOW You Say It\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-23T21:38:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-16T14:56:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/\"},\"wordCount\":716,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Advocacy\",\"Advocacy and Evidence Blog\",\"Trial Advocacy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/\",\"name\":\"It's HOW You Say It - Advocacy and Evidence Resources\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-23T21:38:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-16T14:56:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"The lesson is simple \u2013 just as we were once taught that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d it is sound as well as content that may be core to persuasion.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It’s HOW You Say It\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/\",\"name\":\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\",\"description\":\"Just another Law Sites site\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png\",\"width\":711,\"height\":220,\"caption\":\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e\",\"name\":\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g6b68adb939ecac32ef61d8026f0bafe4\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/author\/tug27334\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It's HOW You Say It - Advocacy and Evidence Resources","description":"The lesson is simple \u2013 just as we were once taught that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d it is sound as well as content that may be core to persuasion.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It's HOW You Say It - Advocacy and Evidence Resources","og_description":"The lesson is simple \u2013 just as we were once taught that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d it is sound as well as content that may be core to persuasion.","og_url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/","og_site_name":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources","article_published_time":"2020-01-23T21:38:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-16T14:56:57+00:00","author":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/"},"author":{"name":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e"},"headline":"It’s HOW You Say It","datePublished":"2020-01-23T21:38:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-16T14:56:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/"},"wordCount":716,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Advocacy","Advocacy and Evidence Blog","Trial Advocacy"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/","name":"It's HOW You Say It - Advocacy and Evidence Resources","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-01-23T21:38:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-16T14:56:57+00:00","description":"The lesson is simple \u2013 just as we were once taught that \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d it is sound as well as content that may be core to persuasion.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/01\/23\/its-how-you-say-it\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It’s HOW You Say It"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/","name":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources","description":"Just another Law Sites site","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization","name":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png","width":711,"height":220,"caption":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e","name":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g6b68adb939ecac32ef61d8026f0bafe4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)"},"url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/author\/tug27334\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2489"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}