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Anxiety and ritualized speech
British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)
|August 1, 1975
Summary
Anxiety increases the use of ritualized speech units (RSUs), particularly "I mean" and "well." However, a speaker's preferred RSU did not significantly increase with anxiety levels.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Speech Communication
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Units of Ritualized Speech (URSs) are common in spoken language.
- Their function and correlation with psychological states like anxiety are not fully understood.
- Specific URSs may serve different roles in communication under stress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of anxiety on the rate of URS usage.
- To determine if anxiety influences a speaker's preferred URS.
- To explore potential reasons for observed changes in URS frequency.
Main Methods:
- Subjects were interviewed on topics rated for anxiety-provoking potential.
- The frequency of specific URSs ('I mean', 'in fact', 'really', 'sort of', 'well', 'you know') was analyzed.
- Hypotheses regarding URS rate and preferred URS increase with anxiety were tested.
Main Results:
- The overall rate of URS usage significantly increased with anxiety, supporting the first hypothesis.
- The second hypothesis, that a speaker's preferred URS would increase with anxiety, was not supported.
- Specifically, the URSs 'I mean' and 'well' showed increased usage during anxious states.
Conclusions:
- Anxiety influences the general use of certain ritualized speech units.
- 'I mean' and 'well' may function as anxiety-related speech markers.
- Further research is needed to understand the grammatical and psychological factors influencing these findings.