Abstract

This study examines the relationship between two measures of individual differences in social cognition and the quality of eleventh grade students' persuasive writing. Subjects completed Crockett's Role Category Questionnaire, and wrote a persuasive letter in response to the problem, “Smoking and the School Nurse.” Letters were submitted to judges for impressionistic and attributional ratings. A content-analytic measure was applied to these 40 papers to yield a measure of the number and quality of persuasive strategies employed. Finally, the same papers were submitted to a second panel, who rated them for overall persuasiveness and appropriateness of tone. Results indicated a significant relationship between interpersonal cognitive complexity and abstractness and quality of writing, persuasiveness, appropriateness of tone, and level of persuasive strategy employed.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1987-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088387004001004
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

References (83) · 12 in this index

  1. 10.1080/03637758209376090
  2. Application of personal construct theory
  3. The social and psychological contexts of language
  4. 10.2307/377329
  5. Forming, thinking, writing: The composing imagination
Show all 83 →
  1. Philosophy and Rhetoric
  2. Pre/Text
  3. Attitudes towards language variation
  4. College English
  5. 10.1080/10570318409374151
  6. Personality and interpersonal communication
  7. 10.1111/j.1468-2958.1981.tb00570.x
  8. Written Communication
  9. annual meeting of the International Communication Association
  10. 10.2307/1128437
  11. Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences
  12. Progress in experimental personality research
  13. Structural analysis of the organization of written impressions
  14. Research in the Teaching of English
  15. 10.1080/00335637709383368
  16. 10.1080/03637757709390144
  17. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1973.tb00103.x
  18. 10.1080/03637757909376010
  19. Children communicating
  20. Constructing texts
  21. 10.2307/358093
  22. Writing with power
  23. Cases for composition
  24. Is there a text in this class?
  25. Children's understanding of social interaction
  26. The development of role-taking and communication skills in children
  27. Problem-solving strategies for writing
  28. Persona
  29. 10.1080/03637758009376039
  30. The Holt guide to English
  31. Pre/Text
  32. Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook
  33. The psychology of personal constructs
  34. A theory of discourse
  35. Research in the Teaching of English
  36. 10.1080/00221325.1981.10532839
  37. Written Communication
  38. 10.2307/358094
  39. Written Communication
  40. Person perception in childhood and adolescence
  41. 10.2307/356377
  42. Lorge-Thorndike intelligence tests, level 4
  43. 10.2307/376441
  44. Teaching the universe of discourse
  45. What writers know
  46. 10.1111/j.1468-2958.1981.tb00657.x
  47. Social cognition and communication
  48. 10.1080/10510978209388436
  49. 10.2307/461344
  50. The measurement of meaning
  51. College English
  52. The new rhetoric: Treatise on argumentation
  53. College English
  54. Department of English
  55. 10.2307/1128247
  56. Research in the Teaching of English
  57. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1969.tb01763.x
  58. Social cognition and communication
  59. Written Communication
  60. Written Communication
  61. Research in the Teaching of English
  62. New directions in research in writing
  63. annual meeting of the Conference of College Composition and Communication
  64. annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association
  65. Understanding other persons
  66. Review of child development research
  67. Children's oral communication skills
  68. Writing and the writer
  69. The sociogenesis of language and human conduct
  70. Persuasive communication: A comparison of seven and twelve year old males
  71. The teaching of English (National Society for the study of Education, 76th Yearbook
  72. The prospect of rhetoric
  73. The concept of development
  74. The contemporary writer
  75. 10.1111/j.1475-682X.1967.tb00644.x
  76. Social cognition, inference, and attribution
  77. Rhetoric: Discovery and change
  78. Linguistics and literacy