title: Do people really say it is "likely" when they believe it is only "possible"? Effect of politeness on risk communication.
abstract: Politeness theory posits that speakers can use verbal probabilities (e.g., there is a chance, it is likely) to hedge bad news. So far, only indirect evidence supports that claim: From the hearer's standpoint, verbal probabilities are interpreted either as plain likelihood-communication devices or as face-management devices, resulting in different risk perceptions. The present research aims to test more directly the postulate of politeness theory by focusing on the effects of speakers' intentions on risk communication. In three experiments, participants communicated a probability by choosing an expression from a list of verbal probabilities. Results consistently showed that polite speakers communicated a different risk magnitude than informative speakers. Further findings indicate that the effect of the speakers' intention depends on the valence of the uncertain outcome. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, Kingston Business School, Kingston University, Kingston, UK. M.Juanchich@kingston.ac.uk
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juanchich
authors.forename: Miroslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sirota
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003142:Communication; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D012306:Risk; D035501:Uncertainty; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult