capturing reader perceptions of writer character (was: self-promotionn in wri

[Dorothy e. Smith]

I have to wonder whether the notion of the reader's perception of the
writer's character isn't purely a methodological construction.  If you ask
people about their perceptions of a writer's character, they will come up
with an answer.  They can perform, if you like, an impromptu analysis of
the text to generate a response to the question.  But is it a procedure
that readers use without being asked to?  I can't say that as a reader I've
ever wondered about a writer's character though I can imagine that there
might be some situations in which that method of reading would be
appropriate.  I'd suggest that the question about reader's perception of a
writer's character needs to be situated.  Perhaps some of the difficulties
in gauging it come from the fact that it mostly isn't there.
At 09:50 AM 5/6/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear Jennifer and other Discourse members,
>I agree that a reader's perception of a writer's character is indeed
>difficult to gauge. I once examined twenty speakers' use of
>"I" or "we" in their speech in a radio program. I found that they use
>the pronouns differently, so diferently that it might be a kind of
>idiolect.
>Through a questionaire I found that audience
>have different perceptions of the speakers' character or personality.
>In this study I tried to see some relationship between the use of pronoun
>and the display of the users' character. I would be happy to  know other
>studies that deal with this topic.
>
>TIAN, Hailong
>
>
>Jennifer Hrazdil wrote:
>
> >> Dear Dr. Maalej and Discourse members,
> >>
> >> I am very interested to read your paper and would appreciate a
> >hard-copy.
> >> How to gauge a reader's perception of a writer's character is indeed a
> >> difficult task.
> >>
> >> I have come across quite a few studies measuring reader/listener
> >perceptions
> >> in the Impression Management literature of social psychology. From what
> >I
> >> can gather, these studies tend to involve administering empirically
> >valid
> >> and reliable questionnaires to research participants in an effort to
> >gauge
> >> their perceptions of the writer's character. The texts on which the
> >> perceptions of the writer are based are specially designed for the
> >> experiment, and variation between texts tends to be restricted to
> >isolated
> >> variables. (For example, in studies on reader impressions of resumes, a
> >base
> >> resume might be created with one variable, in say Educational
> >Background,
> >> manipulated from resume to resume while everything else remains the
> >same.)
> >>
> >> I am interested to know whether any Discourse members are familiar
> >with, or
> >> interested in, research gauging the reader's perceptions of the writer's
> >> character in longer texts that have not been 'experimentally-modified'
> >> (i.e., on authentic texts from multiple writers - where many, many
> >variables
> >> differ from text to text)?
> >>
> >> Thank you,
> >> Jennifer
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: Zouhair Maalej <zmaalej at GNET.TN>
> >> To: <DISCOURS at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> >> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 01:15
> >> Subject: Re: self-promotionn in written discourse
> >>
> >> > Dear all,
> >> > I have published a paper on self-promotional written discourse, with
> >> special
> >> > reference to dating ads or lonely heart ads:
> >> >
> >> > Maalej, Zouhair (1999). "Interpersonal Perception in Self-Promotional
> >> > Discourse." The Tunisian Review of
> >> > Modern Languages 9, 155-174.
> >> >
> >> > I was more interested in perception of males by females and vice
> >versa. If
> >> > you are interested, I can send you a hard copy by snail-mail.
> >> >
> >> > I hope this will help you.
> >> > Kind regards
> >> > **********************
> >> > Dr Zouhair Maalej,
> >> > Department of English, Chair,
> >> > Faculty of Letters,
> >> > University of Manouba,
> >> > Tunis-Manouba, 2010, Tunis, Tunisia.
> >> > *********************************************
> >> > Office phone: (+216) 1 600 700  Ext. 174
> >> > Office Fax: (+216) 1 600 910
> >> > Home Telefax: (+216) 1 362 871
> >> > E-mail: zmaalej at gnet.tn
> >> > URL: http//: simsim.rug.ac.be/ZMaalej
> >> > **********************************************
> >> > CURIOSITY BRINGS JOY
> >> > JOY BRINGS HEALTH
> >> > HEALTH BRINGS LUCIDITY
> >> > LUCIDITY BRINGS CURIOSITY
> >> > ****************************************