Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Reader
Dr. Jennifer Fayard
Second Reader
Dr. Randall Wight
Third Reader
Dr. David Ozmun
Abstract
Speech rate and accent respectively have been shown to impact perceptions of personality and social competence. This study seeks to determine whether perceived intelligence and effectiveness of persuasion are influenced by both speech rate and accent. Participants were randomly assigned to listen to a speech performed one of four ways: fast rate with neutral accent, fast rate with southern accent, slow rate with neutral accent, and slow rate with southern accent. They rated the speaker on persuasiveness, intelligence, and the Big Five personality traits. The results indicated that speech rate has an effect on perceived extraversion, conscientiousness, persuasiveness, and communication skills, and that accent has an effect on perceptions of agreeableness, intelligence, and communication skills.
Recommended Citation
Colbert, Leslie, "It's How You Say It: A Study of Social Perceptions of Speech Rate and Accent" (2016). Honors Theses. 222.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses/222
Comments
This research was conducted with the help of Haylee Garland and Jennifer V. Fayard, Ph.D. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jennifer V. Fayard, Department of Psychology, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, AR 71998. Contact: [email protected].