Sizing Up Objects: The Effect of Diminutive Forms on Positive Mood, Value, and Size Judgments

Abstract

Language (e.g., structure, morphology, and wording) can direct our attention toward the specific properties of an object, in turn influencing the mental representation of that same object. In this paper, we examined this idea by focusing on a particular linguistic form of diminution used in many languages (e.g., in Polish, Spanish, and Portuguese) to refer to an object as being “smaller.” Interestingly, although objects are usually considered “better” when they are bigger in size, objects described with linguistic diminution can also refer to those that are emotionally positive. Across three experiments conducted in Polish, we examined this lexical ambiguity in terms of mood (Experiment 1), subjective quality and monetary value (Experiment 2), and choice selection (Experiment 3). Overall, we found that people evaluate objects differently depending on the linguistic form (i.e., with or without diminution) with which they are described, and that it was related to the perceptual representation of these objects, and not their affective status. Objects described with diminution are evaluated as less satisfying and of lesser value and this effect is attributed to the way participants represent the objects (i.e., encoded and memorized). The generalizability of these effects is discussed.

Assessing size and subjective value of objects with diminutive names

“…The results of Study 3 showed that using diminutives had an adverse impact on the overall evaluation of the candy bar (the pleasure from eating it, tastiness and quality). This result is parallel to the ones obtained in previous studies: tastiness ratings are following the 'bigger is better' heuristic (Parzuchowski, et al, 2016). Nevertheless, the use of a diminutive did not influence the perceived size and price estimations of the candy bar.…”

“…This explanation is consistent with the notion that the top-down processes do not change the perception per se, but rather influence some higher order processes, for example language processing (Levin & Banaji, 2006;Lupyan, Thompson-Schill, & Swingley, 2010) or memory or coding of information (Firestone & Scholl, 2015). Accordingly, Parzuchowski et al (2016) proposed that what explains the effect of the diminutives is the influence of the linguistic form of the visual representation of the object's size -when using the diminutive form, the recalled exemplars of a given category are smaller than when using the regular form.…”

“…In another experiment, buyers interested in clothes described with diminutives evaluated them as less valuable compared to buyers presented with regular forms. The authors stipulated that the mechanism behind the effect of diminutives on the objects perception is the way in which people code and remember the information about the object, rather than a direct distortion of the perception (Parzuchowski et al, 2016). This explanation is consistent with the notion that the top-down processes do not change the perception per se, but rather influence some higher order processes, for example language processing (Levin & Banaji, 2006;Lupyan, Thompson-Schill, & Swingley, 2010) or memory or coding of information (Firestone & Scholl, 2015).…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, one paper reported on the effect of diminutives on object perception. Parzuchowski, et al (2016) showed that objects with diminutive names were evaluated as less satisfying and of a lesser value, than the same objects with regular names. In one of the studies, the recipients of a "złotóweczka" (zloty coin with diminutive ) reported to be in a worse mood compared to the recipients of a "złotówka" (zloty coin).…”

Are Women Perceived as Worse Magicians Than Men? Gender Bias When Evaluating Magic Tricks

“…Still, the different patterns of results between Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 do hint at the possibility that different mental mechanisms, or strategies were at stake in these experiments. Applying different strategies when making judgments is reminiscent of the idea that we often make judgments based on simplifying strategies (i.e., heuristics), rather than on extensive algorithmic processing (e.g., Parzuchowski, Bocian, & Gygax, 2016;Kahneman & Tversky, 1996). Indeed, as presented in the introduction, there are numerous other domains in which gender stereotypes influence people's judgments.…”