People who described a juice product in abstract terms such as ‘preservative-free’ were judged by research participants to be more powerful — 4.38 versus 3.99 on a 7-point perceived-power scale — than those who described the product in more specific, concrete terms such as ‘contains no preservatives,’ says a team led by Cheryl

J. Wakslak of the University of Southern California. Participants made the same judgment about writers who used abstract (‘Barbara is working hard’) versus concrete (‘Barbara is writing notes’) language. Use of nonspecific language may suggest that a speaker or writer possesses an abstract style of thinking and a willingness to judge, both of which are signals of power, the researchers say.

(Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, August 18th, 2014