Do accents speak louder than words? A study into the perceptions of accented doctors and listeners' personality dynamics.
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2024-06-07
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en
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Abstract
Accented speech is a common phenomenon, yet its influence on listeners’
perceptions and the influence of listeners’ personality on these perceptions, particularly in
high-stakes contexts like healthcare, remains underexplored. This study aimed to determine
whether doctors who speak with a foreign accent are perceived as less
competent, trustworthy, and comprehensible than doctors who speak with standard accents,
and to examine the role the listener plays by examining listeners’ personalities. Participants
listened to an audio fragment of a doctor speaking either standard British-accented English,
French-accented English or Ukrainian-accented English, and rated the doctor on
perceived competence, trustworthiness and comprehensibility while also completing a
personality test. Results indicate that doctors with a standard British accent were consistently
rated higher on all variables compared to doctors with French or Ukrainian accents. Moreover, high scorers on the emotionality, openness to experience and honesty-humility dimensions tended to rate doctors higher on perceived trustworthiness. These findings suggest a preference for native speakers and higlight the impact of listeners' personality traits on shaping these perceptions.
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