Review

· Ivy Zhang, Journal Summary 3, 09-16-2020

· Muir, K., Joinson, A., Cotterill, R., & Dewdney, N. (2017). Linguistic Style Accommodation Shapes Impression Formation and Rapport in Computer-Mediated Communication. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 36(5), 525–548. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X17701327

· Lit Review (Label the four sections clearly)

· The research in this article examines both, how power influences linguistic styles and the effects interpersonal impression has on computer-mediated communication. The Communication Accommodation Theory was used as a guiding theoretical framework. Research used in the past has found that people  in lower positions of power, will accommodate their linguistic styles towards their higher power partners in face to face communication.

· The author is trying to examine if the changes in linguistic styles has a correlation to social power occurs in computer- mediated communication. Three hypotheses were formed for this research. The first hypothesis asked if there would be a greater amount of conversations identified by individuals in a lower-power role, accommodating their linguistic styles toward higher power partners. Hypothesis 1b: Individuals in a low-power role shows a greater general tendency to accommodate their linguistic style, compared to individuals in higher power roles. Hypothesis 2: The accommodation of linguistic styles over the CMC is associated with positive perceptions, made by the receiver of the speaker. Also, attractiveness and the rapport felt between conversationalists was used to measure the accommodation of the linguistic styles. 

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· Method

· There were two studies designed to examine the effects of power on linguistic styles. They used Self-report measures, a “speed networking” paradigm and a between subject design.  There were fifty-four participants that took part in study one, which all consisted of undergraduate students. Participants had multiple conversations and each of them either played a high-or low-power role. The Linguistic style accommodated for each conversation that was calculated. For study two, there were thirty participants and used a within subject design.  

  

· The purpose of this article was to explore both how power influences linguistic styles, and the effects it has on interpersonal impressions in CMC. Using CAT as a guiding theoretical framework, across two studies, it shows that power influenced the extent to which individuals changed their linguistic style in synchronous CMC (instant messaging). Our hypotheses regarding power was supported. Individuals in a lowpower position were more likely to change their linguistic styles to be similar to their higher power partners, rather than the other way around. Our hypothesis regarding interpersonal impressions was partially supported, and demonstrates the importance of social roles in forming perceptions of conversational partners in CMC. This is consistent with CAT, where there was no difference in power between participants & an increase in the linguistic accommodation was associated with forming positive interpersonal impressions of the partner’s rapports and task attractiveness. Contrarily, the Linguistic Style Accommodation by participants in a position of high power was associated with poor interpersonal impressions. This was formed by their lower power partners of their rapport, social, and task attractiveness. We provided novel evidence as to the importance of power in relationships, influencing nonconscious language used and interpersonal impressions in text-based communications. This also suggested theoretical contributions for CAT & Linguistic Divergences as Speech Complementarities.