This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by de Poot, C. J. Articles by Semin, G. R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Pick Your Verbs with Care When You Formulate a Question!

Gun R. Semin

Free University Amsterdam

Two studies examining how the use of action or state verbs in question formulation influences the locus of causal origin in answers are reported. The first study identifies a number of methodological problems for the selection of action and state verbs in the formulation of semantically symmetrical questions. This study shows a semantic asymmetry between action and state verbs. The second study finds support for the hypothesis that questions formulated with action verbs cue the logical subject of the question sentence as the causal origin for answers and that those formulated with state verbs cue the logical object Additionally, the influence that the actor-observer perspective has on the explanation of social events is shown to be modified by the type of verb used in the formulation of questions. The implications of thesefindings fora number of basic and applied settings are discussed.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Rubini and M. Menegatti Linguistic Bias in Personnel Selection Journal of Language and Social Psychology, June 1, 2008; 27(2): 168 - 181. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. M. Nixon Mental state verb production and sentential complements in four-year-old children First Language, February 1, 2005; 25(1): 19 - 37. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K. Fiedler and J. Schmid Implicit Attributions and Biases: An Answer to Edwards and Potter's Rejoinder Theory Psychology, December 1, 1999; 9(6): 837 - 845. [Abstract] [PDF]