American Indian and Anglo perceptions of speaker, message structure and message orientation.

Abstract

Eighty educational advisory board members, equally divided by cultural background (American Indian and Anglo), listened to one of four audio tape recordings of a simulated presentation on sharing educational resources. The presentations differed in: structure (circular or linear) and orientation (process or solution) and each speaker was introduced either as an American Indian or as an Anglo. Subjects evaluated the speaker, the message and the potential outcomes by completing a 26 item behavioral differential. A factor analysis yielded four factors: expertise, character credibility, safety and negative feasibility. The results of a multivariate analysis of the factor scores were not significant. Results of exploratory univariate analyses indicated the following: (1) An expertise factor main effect of a positive evaluation of the process orientation. (2) An American receiver's positive evaluation for an American Indian speaker presenting in an American Indian message structure and orientation, in terms of the expertise and safety factors. (3) An Anglo receiver's negative evaluation of an American Indian speaker and message, in terms of the expertise factor. (4) An Anglo receiver's and an American Indian receiver's neutral evaluation of an Anglo speaker presenting in an Anglo message structure, in terms of the expertise factor. (5) An Anglo receiver's negative evaluation of an American Indian speaker presenting in an American Indian message structure, in terms of the expertise factor. (6) An Anglo receiver's positive (in terms of expertise) and negative (in terms of character credibility) evaluation of an Anglo speaker presenting an American Indian message structure. (7) An American Indian receiver's negative evaluation of an Anglo speaker presenting in an American Indian message structure and orientation, in terms of the safety factor.

Implications of message structure and cultural background variables are examined in the light of social and cognitive psychological theories.