How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents
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1
Southern Cross University, Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Australia
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.
Keywords:
social groups,
essentialism,
perceptions,
accents,
Group homogeneity
Conference:
12th Annual Psychology Research Conference, 2015, Coffs Harbour, Australia, 25 Sep - 26 Sep, 2015.
Presentation Type:
Research
Topic:
Psychology
Citation:
Yalouz
D and
Moloney
G
(2015). How do we perceive accents? The association between essentialist perceptions and accents.
Front. Psychol.
Conference Abstract:
12th Annual Psychology Research Conference, 2015.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.66.00014
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Received:
23 Sep 2015;
Published Online:
23 Sep 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Dana Yalouz, Southern Cross University, Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Coffs Harbour, NSW, 2450, Australia, d.yalouz.10@student.scu.edu.au