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Argument From Aristotle To Analysis of Variance: a Modest Reinterpretation

University of Arizona

This paper examines three different ways in which language research can directly bear on the scholarship of people primarily interested in the processes of social influence. First, a discussion is offered on how the inclusion of language variables in established theories of social influence and argumentation can alter predictions about successful and unsuccessful attitude change and provide a richer logic of explanation for theoreticians. Moreover, it is suggested that such a language perspective can be useful in providing a new theoretical umbrella for many of the confusing and contradictory findings in the attitude change research literature. After making arguments about the interface between language and social influence processes, it is suggested that potential methodological contribu tions could accrue to attitude change researchers if they were to pay more attention to research on the quantification and measurement of specific langauge phenomena. Finally, it is suggested that there are several potential heuristic qualities of language research which could obtain if this body of knowledge were applied to some classic concerns about logic, argument and rationality as pre dictors of attitude change. An ordinary language approach to the study of argu mentation and information is called for in this final section of the paper.

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