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An inclusive, real-world investigation of persuasion in language and verbal behavior

DOI:10.1007/s42001-021-00153-5
Authors:
Vivian P. Ta-Johnson at Lake Forest College
Vivian P. Ta-Johnson
Ryan L. Boyd at Stony Brook University
Ryan L. Boyd
Sarah Seraj at University of Texas at Austin
Sarah Seraj
Anne Keller
Anne Keller
Anne Keller
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Abstract

Linguistic features of a message necessarily shape its persuasive appeal. However, studies have largely examined the effect of linguistic features on persuasion in isolation and do not incorporate properties of language that are often involved in real-world persuasion. As such, little is known about the key verbal dimensions of persuasion or the relative impact of linguistic features on a message’s persuasive appeal in real-world social interactions. We collected large-scale data of online social interactions from a social media website in which users engage in debates in an attempt to change each other’s views on any topic. Messages that successfully changed a user’s views are explicitly marked by the user themselves. We simultaneously examined linguistic features that have been previously linked with message persuasiveness between persuasive and non-persuasive messages. Linguistic features that drive persuasion fell along three central dimensions: structural complexity, negative emotionality, and positive emotionality. Word count, lexical diversity, reading difficulty, analytical language, and self-references emerged as most essential to a message’s persuasive appeal: messages that were longer, more analytic, less anecdotal, more difficult to read, and less lexically varied had significantly greater odds of being persuasive. These results provide a more parsimonious understanding of the social psychological pathways to persuasion as it operates in the real world through verbal behavior. Our results inform theories that address the role of language in persuasion, and provide insight into effective persuasion in digital environments.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Computational Social Science (2022) 5:883–903
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-021-00153-5
1 3
RESEARCH ARTICLE
An inclusive, real‑world investigation ofpersuasion
inlanguage andverbal behavior
VivianP.Ta1 · RyanL.Boyd2 · SarahSeraj3 · AnneKeller1·
CarolineGrith1,4 · AlexiaLoggarakis1,5 · LaelMedema1
Received: 28 May 2021 / Accepted: 9 November 2021 / Published online: 1 December 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Abstract
Linguistic features of a message necessarily shape its persuasive appeal. However,
studies have largely examined the effect of linguistic features on persuasion in isola-
tion and do not incorporate properties of language that are often involved in real-
world persuasion. As such, little is known about the key verbal dimensions of per-
suasion or the relative impact of linguistic features on a message’s persuasive appeal
in real-world social interactions. We collected large-scale data of online social inter-
actions from a social media website in which users engage in debates in an attempt
to change each other’s views on any topic. Messages that successfully changed a
user’s views are explicitly marked by the user themselves. We simultaneously exam-
ined linguistic features that have been previously linked with message persuasive-
ness between persuasive and non-persuasive messages. Linguistic features that drive
persuasion fell along three central dimensions: structural complexity, negative emo-
tionality, and positive emotionality. Word count, lexical diversity, reading difficulty,
analytical language, and self-references emerged as most essential to a message’s
persuasive appeal: messages that were longer, more analytic, less anecdotal, more
difficult to read, and less lexically varied had significantly greater odds of being per-
suasive. These results provide a more parsimonious understanding of the social psy-
chological pathways to persuasion as it operates in the real world through verbal
behavior. Our results inform theories that address the role of language in persuasion,
and provide insight into effective persuasion in digital environments.
Keywords Persuasion· Language· Attitude change· Online interactions
* Vivian P. Ta
ta@lakeforest.edu
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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