How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents
Aims: Accents are argued to signify category membership particularly in terms of ethnicity and nationality. Drawing from the theoretical framework of psychological essentialism, we investigated whether accents also trigger perceptions of group homogeneity: that is, whether people are characterised a...
| Format: | Article |
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| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.66.00014/full |
| _version_ | 1818898554355187712 |
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| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Aims: Accents are argued to signify category membership particularly in terms of ethnicity and nationality. Drawing from the theoretical framework of psychological essentialism, we investigated whether accents also trigger perceptions of group homogeneity: that is, whether people are characterised as holding similar beliefs and values because they speak with the same accent. We also investigated whether these perceptions were mediated by characteristics of the perceiver.
Method: One-hundred and twenty-four participants completed one of three conditions of an online survey that opened with a recording of a person speaking in either an Anglo-Australian, German or Indian accent. Participants answered an adaptation of Toosi and Ambady’s essentialist trait scale as well as some questions about their own accent and identity.
Results: Two orthogonal factors were found corresponding to an Accent identification scale and Connection of group members scale. No significant differences were found between conditions on either scale. However, participants’ perceptions about whether they spoke with an accent significantly differentiated ratings on the Accent identification scale. Respondents who didn’t self-identify as speaking with an accent used other accents as an indicator of group membership significantly more than those participants who did self-identify as speaking with an accent.
Conclusions: Corresponding to previous research, our results indicate that accents can be used to categorise people and foster perceptions of group homogeneity. More importantly, we found this to be a dynamic process that included the perceivers’ perception of their own accent. We tentatively suggest that accents may serve as a mediating factor in the relationship between group categorisation and essentialist perceptions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:33:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d8b4274c87c549ed9f60e4249f26143d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:33:55Z |
| publishDate | 2015-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-d8b4274c87c549ed9f60e4249f26143d2022-12-21T20:08:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-09-01610.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.66.00014169924How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accentsAims: Accents are argued to signify category membership particularly in terms of ethnicity and nationality. Drawing from the theoretical framework of psychological essentialism, we investigated whether accents also trigger perceptions of group homogeneity: that is, whether people are characterised as holding similar beliefs and values because they speak with the same accent. We also investigated whether these perceptions were mediated by characteristics of the perceiver. Method: One-hundred and twenty-four participants completed one of three conditions of an online survey that opened with a recording of a person speaking in either an Anglo-Australian, German or Indian accent. Participants answered an adaptation of Toosi and Ambady’s essentialist trait scale as well as some questions about their own accent and identity. Results: Two orthogonal factors were found corresponding to an Accent identification scale and Connection of group members scale. No significant differences were found between conditions on either scale. However, participants’ perceptions about whether they spoke with an accent significantly differentiated ratings on the Accent identification scale. Respondents who didn’t self-identify as speaking with an accent used other accents as an indicator of group membership significantly more than those participants who did self-identify as speaking with an accent. Conclusions: Corresponding to previous research, our results indicate that accents can be used to categorise people and foster perceptions of group homogeneity. More importantly, we found this to be a dynamic process that included the perceivers’ perception of their own accent. We tentatively suggest that accents may serve as a mediating factor in the relationship between group categorisation and essentialist perceptions.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.66.00014/fullsocial groupsessentialismperceptionsaccentsGroup homogeneity |
| spellingShingle | How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents Frontiers in Psychology social groups essentialism perceptions accents Group homogeneity |
| title | How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents |
| title_full | How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents |
| title_fullStr | How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents |
| title_full_unstemmed | How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents |
| title_short | How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents |
| title_sort | how do we perceive accents the association between essentialist perceptions and accents |
| topic | social groups essentialism perceptions accents Group homogeneity |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.66.00014/full |