Exposure to Biased Language: The Role of Linguistic Abstraction in the Transmission, Maintenance, and Formation of Beliefs

Language plays an indispensable role in the transmission, maintenance, and formation of culturally shared beliefs. Yet beliefs about groups, in particular, are shared despite the existence of prohibitive norms that act to inhibit their expression. This apparent incongruity suggests that cultural beliefs become shared through linguistic means other than explicit expression. In support of this, the linguistic bias paradigm proposes that linguistic bias is the implicit and unintentional expression of beliefs through the differential use of linguistic abstraction (Franco & Maass, 1996; Maass, 1999; Maass, Salvi, Arcuri, & Semin, 1989), as defined by the Linguistic Category Model (Semin & Fiedler, 1988). According to this paradigm, linguistic bias not only reveals the speakers’ privately held beliefs but also transmits these beliefs to recipients, leading to belief sharedness. The consequences of exposure to linguistic bias, however, have yet to be shown and this is the aim of the present research program. The first study focuses on belief transmission, by determining if there is a direct causal effect from linguistic abstraction to individual impression formation. Results show that biased language transmits information about individuals but the communication context, specifically whom the message is about, is also important. Given this, it is likely that the content of the message will also affect the reception of biased language. The second study thus focuses on belief maintenance, by considering the relative effects of different levels of linguistic abstraction on pre-existing beliefs. Results were inconclusive, but may have been affected by methodological limitations. The third study addresses these limitations while focusing on belief formation, by measuring the impact of biased language in the absence of pre-existing beliefs. Recipients, in general, formed beliefs that corresponded to the biased language to which they were exposed. Together, these studies suggest that linguistic bias plays a role in belief sharedness as a mechanism through which cultural beliefs are transmitted and formed. Linguistic bias, however, must be understood within the specific communication context, which also independently affects reception. EXPOSURE TO LINGUISTIC BIAS iii Résumé Le langage est indispensable à la transmission, au maintien et à la formation de croyances partagées au sein d’une culture. Pourtant, les croyances au sujet de groupes sont partagées en dépit de l’existence de normes prohibitives qui inhibent leur expression. Cette incongruence apparente suggère que les croyances culturelles sont partagées par des moyens langagiers autres que leur expression explicite. À l’appui, le paradigme du biais linguistique propose que le biais linguistique soit l’expression implicite et nonintentionnelle de croyances par l’entremise de l’usage différentiel d’abstraction langagière (Franco & Maass, 1996; Maass, 1999; Maass, Salvi, Arcuri, & Semin, 1989), telle que définie par le Linguistic Category Model (Semin & Fiedler, 1988). Selon ce modèle, le biais linguistique révèle non seulement les croyances privées des locuteurs, mais transmet aussi ces croyances aux interlocuteurs, incitant le partage de croyances. Toutefois, les conséquences de l’exposition au biais linguistique n’ont pas encore été démontrées de façon empirique. C’est le but du présent programme de recherche. La première étude se centre sur la transmission des croyances, en déterminant s’il y a un effet causal direct de l’abstraction langagière à la formation d’impressions individuelles. Les résultats montrent que le langage biaisé transmet de l’information au sujet des individus, mais que le contexte communicationnel et en particulier le sujet du message, est aussi important. Ainsi, il est probable que le contenu du message affecte aussi la réception du langage biaisé. La seconde étude se penche donc sur le maintien des croyances, en tenant compte des effets relatifs de différents niveaux d’abstraction langagière sur les croyances préexistantes. Les résultats ne sont pas conclusifs, probablement à cause de limites méthodologiques. La troisième étude répond à ces limites tout en portant attention à la formation de croyances, en mesurant l’impact du langage biaisé en l’absence de croyances préexistantes. En général, les interlocuteurs forment des croyances qui correspondent au langage biaisé auquel ils ont été exposés. Ensemble, ces études suggèrent que le biais linguistique joue un rôle dans le partage de croyances et sert de mécanisme à travers lequel les croyances culturelles sont transmises et formées. Toutefois, le biais linguistique doit être compris à l’intérieur d’un contexte communicationnel spécifique, qui affecte indépendamment la réception du biais. EXPOSURE TO LINGUISTIC BIAS iv Acknowledgements This thesis comes at the end of many years of hard work. Though long and detailed, it cannot capture the long days spent in the lab struggling alongside fellow students, the hope for a good outcome, the guilt of not doing more, and the heavy disappointment that comes with every difficulty, delay, and defeat. Nor can it express the joy of success, the wonder of gaining a deeper understanding of the world, the camaraderie when commiserating and celebrating with friends, and the indebtedness to those who have supported and struggled with me. This page is for them. They deserve much more. I feel lucky to have the guidance of my supervisor, Richard Clément, who spends an inordinate amount of time mentoring his students and cultivating a cohesive lab community. Thank you for the countless hours of discussion, feedback, the quick turnaround when it was needed, the generous financial support, souvenirs from your travels, and the celebratory lab lunches, stories, and laughter. In his own words, a student progresses from an apprentice into a master wizard, a lieutenant into a captain of their own star ship, and a student into a colleague. I hope I have not disappointed him in this. Thank you to my committee members, Chris Fennell, Dave Miranda, and Luc Pelletier, and my external examiner, Richard Lalonde, for their invaluable insight, comments, and enthusiasm for my thesis. To Benoît Gauthier for his technical expertise and his short and quick responses to endless emails. To Cate Bielajew and Cristina Atance for supporting my love of statistics and teaching. To my past and current labmates, Sara Rubenfeld, Jessica Shulman, Sinthujaa Sampasivam, Nathalie Freynet, and Odilia Yim, for a truly enviable support system and an eagerness to help each other with any problem, big or small. Thank you to them and my friends, Aman Bassi, Jessica Chan, Susanna Cheung, Ulemu Luhanga, Erin McGreevy, Delage Olsen, Levente Orbán, and the brunch clubbers, for listening to my complaints, quick visits, movie nights in the lab, couches to sleep on, thoroughly justified opinions on the smallest of details, and too many other things to list. Thank you to my family for all of this and more. To my mom and brother, for those times when I really needed your help and those other times when I didn’t but you came anyway. To my dad, for shared meals and for those things that stay the same. To my sister and brother-in-law for being in a different time zone so I didn’t have to work late alone. And to my niece for being the best guilt-free distraction I ever encountered. EXPOSURE TO LINGUISTIC BIAS v Table of