• About
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Institutional RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Compensating for an Inattentive Audience

    Craycraft, Nicole Neekoo
    : https://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/etd-03242017-141159
    http://hdl.handle.net/1803/11259
    : 2017-03-24

    Abstract

    Do speakers adjust their expectations of a conversational partner when said partner is inattentive, and if so, how are their utterances to the inattentive partner modulated? Here we test the hypothesis that speakers only assume common ground for content where the co-present addressee exhibits attentiveness in a conversation. Speakers learned the names of cartoon monster pictures with two confederates before using the monsters in a communication task; for half the speakers, one partner exhibited inattentive behaviors. In Experiment 1, the inattentive behavior happened in an irrelevant task before the name learning. Speakers were more descriptive overall when a partner was inattentive; however, they did not differentiate in descriptiveness between partners. In Experiment 2, the inattentive behavior happened during the name learning. Speakers were more descriptive when talking to the partner that was previously inattentive compared to a partner who was not, suggesting that the speaker was unsure the inattentive partner correctly learned the names. In Experiment 3, the inattentive behavior happened either during an irrelevant task before the name learning or during the name learning itself. Confirming and extending the results of Experiment 2, speakers were only more descriptive when talking to the partner who was inattentive during the name learning portion and did not discriminate between partners inattentive during the irrelevant task and fully attentive partners. The present findings supported the hypothesis, and in addition, show that effects of addressee attentiveness are specific to the information exchanged during the inattentive period.
    Show full item record

    Files in this item

    Icon
    Name:
    Craycraft.pdf
    Size:
    712.2Kb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open

    This item appears in the following collection(s):

    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations

    Connect with Vanderbilt Libraries

    Your Vanderbilt

    • Alumni
    • Current Students
    • Faculty & Staff
    • International Students
    • Media
    • Parents & Family
    • Prospective Students
    • Researchers
    • Sports Fans
    • Visitors & Neighbors

    Support the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries

    Support the Library...Give Now

    Gifts to the Libraries support the learning and research needs of the entire Vanderbilt community. Learn more about giving to the Libraries.

    Become a Friend of the Libraries

    Quick Links

    • Hours
    • About
    • Employment
    • Staff Directory
    • Accessibility Services
    • Contact
    • Vanderbilt Home
    • Privacy Policy