Persuasion and Swearing: How Gender, Status, and Word Choice Influence Attitudes

We were interested in how speaker characteristics influence the perception of swearing in a persuasive message. Previous research has investigated the use of swearing in persuasive messages and has found that swearing can be seen as a signal that the speaker feels passionately about the topic and can, thus, result in increases in rated persuasion (Scherer & Sagarin, 2006; Baruch, Prouska, Ollier-Malaterre, Bunk, 2017). However, there is also evidence that the level of persuasion and attitudes toward the speaker can be impacted by speaker characteristics, such as race or gender (Jacobi, 2014). Faculty Sponsors: Elizabeth Arnott-Hill, Or\u27Shaundra Benson, Ken Gra