He Said, She Said: Exploring Cognitive Processing and Gender in Perceived Influence of Speech

I analyzed how cognitive processing of the research participant and gender of the speaker affects the amount of perceived influence an individual holds in their speech. Ninety-six undergraduate students were exposed to recordings of a decision-making discussion in different mediums of presentation - audio only, visual only, or both audio and visual - to test how the presence of sight and sound and gender of the speaker impacted ratings of persuasiveness and likeableness. Participants first identified the dissenting voice from the group of three in the stimuli and then rated that specific individual on persuasiveness and likeableness. This process was repeated, so participants rated both a male and a female dissenter. I hypothesized that male dissenters would be more influential than female dissenters when both audio and visual are present because gender would be the most salient disparity which is then used as a basis for evaluation. I also hypothesized that conditions with audio would lead to higher ratings of perceived influence. Finally, I predicted that the gender of the dissenting voice would produce differences in perceived influence and likeableness. No evidence was found to support the first and third hypotheses, and the second hypothesis received partial support. Medium of presentation was found to have a significant effect on persuasiveness but not likeableness. Concerns about internal validity and reliability as well as generalizability need to be evaluated and corrected for future research