How Do Speakers Choose Uncertainty Phrases to Express Guilt Probabilities?
نویسندگان
چکیده
Many studies have documented what listeners understand when uncertainty is communicated to them verbally. Yet we still know little about the factors that will influence speakers’ choice of a probability phrase over another when they wish to communicate uncertain facts. Using a legal setting, we showed that the quantitative meaning and the directionality of the verbal probability chosen were affected by both the uncertain outcome’s numerical probability and its perceived propensity of guilt. The discussion of these results will focus on implications for the understanding of speakers’ choices of verbal probability phrases and for risk-framing in legal contexts.
منابع مشابه
Is guilt 'likely' or 'not certain'? Contrast with previous probabilities determines choice of verbal terms.
This research focuses on what determines speakers' choice of positive and negative probability phrases (e.g., "a chance" vs. "not certain") in a legal context. We argue that choice of phrase to describe an event's probability of occurrence can be determined by the contrast between its current p value and an earlier p value, and not by that current value alone. Three experiments were conducted d...
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