A Multilevel Investigation of Arabic-Language Impression Change

This research investigates how impressions are formed from simple social events described in the Arabic language. Multilevel data enable us to investigate the degree of cultural consensus in how native Arabic-speakers currently living in North Carolina view social events. These data allow us to inve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	International journal of sociology Vol. 47; no. 4; pp. 278 - 295
Main Authors:	Kriegel, Darys J., Abdul-Mageed, Muhammad, Clark, Jesse K., Freeland, Robert E., Heise, David R., Robinson, Dawn T., Rogers, Kimberly B., Smith-Lovin, Lynn
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Abingdon Routledge 29-08-2017 Taylor & Francis, Ltd Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:	Affect control Arabic language Christians Control theory culture Evaluation Gender differences impression change Investigations Language shift mathematical sociology Social response United States > US
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This research investigates how impressions are formed from simple social events described in the Arabic language. Multilevel data enable us to investigate the degree of cultural consensus in how native Arabic-speakers currently living in North Carolina view social events. These data allow us to investigate a core assumption of affect control theory-that affective responses to social events are shared within a language culture. The results of hierarchical linear modeling suggest little variation in the constant and stability effects during event processing among these Arabic-speakers from very diverse backgrounds. Evaluation constants and stability effects show no significant individual-level variation and can be described by a simple event-level model. In particular, evaluation processing is similar for Arabic-speaking men and women and for Muslims and Christians. Potency and activity dynamics show slight differences by gender and religion. We then proceed to estimate Arabic evaluation dynamics using regression techniques, and compare them to U.S. English equations. Arabic equations are consistently simpler than U.S. English ones, and stability effects are consistently smaller. In the Arabic equations, nice behaviors make actors seem more powerful, while the reverse is true in U.S. English equations. In general, the object of an action appears to be more important in Arabic than in English impression-change models.
ISSN:	0020-7659 1557-9336
DOI:	10.1080/00207659.2017.1372102