17.3291, Qs: Subconscious Linguistic Influences on Grading

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LINGUIST List: Vol-17-3291. Sun Nov 12 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.3291, Qs: Subconscious Linguistic Influences on Grading

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1)
Date: 08-Nov-2006
From: Thomas Scott < tds101 at york.ac.uk >
Subject: Subconscious Linguistic Influences on Grading 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:38:50
From: Thomas Scott < tds101 at york.ac.uk >
Subject: Subconscious Linguistic Influences on Grading 
 


Hello!

I'm an MA student researching the effect of positive/negative connotations 
of selected words in students' assignments on markers' grading decisions. 
As part of my BA last year, I ran a pilot study that found that markers give 
reliably lower grades to essays that contain examples with negative 
connotations - all other things being equal.

I'm having trouble finding relevant literature to form a solid theoretical 
background for my MA, though. Bargh, Chen and Burrows' ''Automaticity of 
Social Behavior'' (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71(2): 230-
244) includes a wonderful scrambled-sentence test that provides evidence 
for such subconscious influences in a general sense, but I can't find anything 
more specifically linguistic.

I feel sure that I can't be the first person to investigate this, but after days of 
trawling through journals I've drawn a blank. Perhaps I'm not searching for 
the right keywords; I'd be grateful for any references, any advice -- or heck, 
any keywords I could search for!

Many thanks,

Tom Scott
tds101 at york.ac.uk 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                     General Linguistics
                     Linguistic Theories
                     Psycholinguistics




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LINGUIST List: Vol-17-3291