A controlled test of some “complicating factors” relevant to the inferential model for evaluations of communicative competence

Abstract

The “inferential” model for the evaluation of communicative competence claims that the process by which observers judge competence includes at least two stages. Initially, the observer forms an impression of the communicator which includes unobserved behaviors and traits associated with observed behavior in their “implicit theories of communicative competence.” Then, the observer makes an evaluation of the communicator's competence, based on the implications of the entire impression. To test the model and a series of additional “complicating factors” relevant to it, participants with known “implicit theories” read scenarios in which an imaginary target either did or did not perform a competence‐relevant behavior, and then judged the target on a set of competence‐relevant characteristics and for overall competence. The inferential model accounted for these judgments well. But the addition of predictors representing the “complicating factors” did not improve the model's performance.

Notes

This study was funded by a grant‐in‐aid from the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Delaware. Thanks to Elaine Gilby and to two anonymous reviewers for suggestions that have improved this manuscript.