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Speechlessness

Causal Attributions, Emotional Features and Social Consequences

University of California, Davis

Individuals recalled the most recent time they found themselves speechless during social interaction. In addition to characterizing a number of attributes of the event, Study 1 participants provided causal attributions for their speechlessness, the emotions they experienced before and after the event and the event’s social consequences. Speechlessness emanated from a variety of sources, including violated expectations, extreme emotional states, and lack of knowledge. Surprise was the primary precursor to speechlessness. Neither communication apprehension nor social anxiety was associated with causal attributions for speechlessness or the event’s duration. Study 2 contrasted speechlessness arising from involuntary and voluntary origins. Participants who attributed their speechlessness to strategic causes reported higher levels of guilt and embarrassment but less overall negative affect than those who attributed their speechlessness to less volitional causes. Speechlessness attributed to violated expectations and extreme emotions potentiated more negative relationship consequences than speechlessness attributed to strategic causes. Findings are discussed in terms of message production models and the social consequences of speechlessness.

Key Words: speechlessness • silence • message encoding

Journal of Language and Social Psychology, Vol. 23, No. 2, 147-179 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0261927X04263821


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