Children’s interpretation of overspecified
information in a persuasive context
An experimental study into the effects of overspecified modifiers
in referring expressions on purchase intention
Master Thesis
Research Master Language & Communication
Faculty of Humanities
Tilburg University
Supervisors: dr. J.P.M. Arts
dr. R.M.F. Koolen
F.M.J. Ceelen (B.A.) (502794)
September, 2014
Table of contents
Abstract
3
1
Introduction
4
2
Theoretical framework
2.1 Pragmatics and referential communication
2.2 Theories of overspecification
2.3 Children and overspecification
2.3.1 Language production
2.3.2 Language comprehension
2.4 Current study
2.5 Research question and hypotheses
6
6
7
10
10
11
13
15
3
Methodology
3.1 Participants
3.2 Materials
3.2.1 Lay-out and structure
3.2.2 Product types
3.2.3 Product descriptions
3.2.4 Presentation mode
3.3 Instrumentation
3.4 Research design
3.5 Procedure
3.6 Statistical analyses
18
18
18
18
19
22
22
23
24
25
26
4
Results
4.1 Interest level effect
4.2 Condition effect: presentation mode
4.3 Overspecification effect
4.3.1 All types of referring expressions
4.3.2 Comparing two specific types of referring expressions
27
27
28
29
29
29
5
Conclusion
32
6
Discussion
6.1 Response to the literature
6.2 Limitations and future research
33
33
36
References
38
Appendices
41
2
Abstract
In this paper we describe how overspecified modifiers in referring expressions behave in a
persuasive child directed context.
Nine-year-old children were exposed to a set of product advertisements and were asked
to indicate their purchase intention. Based on a pre-test the advertised products were divided
into three levels of interest: high, neutral and low. Six different types of referring expressions
were used to describe the advertised products, either minimally specified or overspecified,
including one or two overspecified modifiers. The product description was presented in the
advertisement by text, as an audio fragment or in a combination (both text and audio).
The test results show that children’s purchase intention increases when they (already)
are highly interested in the advertised product. Tests also show that children are most
inclined to purchase the advertised products when the product description is presented as an
audio fragment, followed by the combined audio and text presentation and finally the text
presentation only. Referential information did not influence these results at all, possibly
caused by a less powerful analysis due to lack of sufficient experimental data. We did
observe an interesting trend regarding the specific type of referring expressions: when
products are referred to with both modifiers ‘large’ and ‘color’, children are more likely to want
these products as a birthday present than when products are referred to with the modifier
‘small’.
The implications of the current study and suggestions for future research are discussed
at the end of this paper.
3
1 Introduction
In the linguistic research field there is a debate about when and why people use
overspecified language in a communicative situation. Speakers and writers often include
overspecified information (more information than necessary) in their communication. Every
day, language users have to choose what and how to communicate messages to others. In
referential communication, when using words to point out an object, a person or a place to
the language receiver, these choices influence the degree of overspecified language used in
referring expressions. For example, describing a ball as ‘the small green ball’ in a situation
where the other ball is a large green ball, goes beyond identification of the object since the
description ‘the small ball’ is already sufficient to single out the target object. The adjective
‘green’ does not add necessary information at all for unique identification of the target
referent ‘ball’. Whenever people use these kinds of additional words to refer to the target
object in a communicative setting, they use overspecification in their language (Pechmann,
1989).
Overspecification can at the same time be considered as an example of functional
communicative behavior in human language, with the main intention to provide unambiguous
referring expressions to enable the language receiver to identify the target referent correctly.
However, to fulfill this intention language producers frequently give more information than
necessary
for
correctly
identifying
the
target
object.
Language
producers
use
overspecification all the time and overspecified modifiers are omnipresent in everyday object
descriptions. Therefore, according to pragmatic approaches to language, overspecification in
referring expressions does support the communicative function in language (Clark, 1996;
Levinson, 1983; Mey, 2001; Renkema, 2004).
Unfortunately, the phenomenon ‘overspecification’ in language inherently still carries a
negative connotation in ‘over’, since this often is related to the meaning of ‘too much’. Many
researchers in the linguistic research field argue that overspecification has a negative impact
on language receivers. Contrarily, pragmatic approaches refer to the communicative function
of overspecified language. In short, it is a principle of pragmatics: it may be pragmatically
correct to overspecify in language, even though this extra information may not be necessary
in a certain context.
A lot of research has been performed regarding referential communication and
pragmatics. The factors causing language users to overspecify in referring expressions are
discussed in the linguistic research field. Most of this research focuses on producing
4
overspecified language, while more and more also interpretation and comprehension of
overspecified language use is investigated.
Interestingly, most studies only investigate overspecification in language production and
language comprehension in an instructive context. However, we do not know the impact of
overspecification on language comprehension in a persuasive context, for example in
advertisements. The linguistic research field (to our best knowledge) lacks studies
investigating overspecification in persuasive contexts. If we better understand how
overspecificied modifiers are being used and perceived in persuasive language, we will be
able to describe the effects of overspecified modifiers in persuasive messages on the
language receiver. Also writers would be able to create effective persuasive messages in a
communicative setting since it is very important to convey a message as clear as possible.
In this study, we aimed to gain increased insight in the issues in the linguistic research
field as mentioned, by examining overspecified language in a persuasive context. In this way,
we tried to make a contribution to the existing research field of overspecified language use.
Based on several factors, interest and presentation mode, we investigated the possible
effects of overspecified language in a persuasive text on the purchase intention of young
children. To investigate the phenomenon ‘overspecification’ in a new perspective, we are
addressing the following research question:
What are the effects of overspecified product descriptions on the purchase
intention of nine-year-old children in relation to the product’s interest level and the
presentation mode of the description?
5
2 Theoretical framework
In this part of the paper we provide an overview of the literature related to overspecified
language in referential communication. Firstly, we take a closer look at what referential
communication in relation to pragmatics entails. Secondly, the underlying processes of
overspecifed language are discussed as well as the studies that investigated the effects of
overspecification on language production and language comprehension. Thirdly, we provide
a research overview on the effects of overspecification on children. Again, the studies related
to both language production and language comprehension are part of the overview in this
section. In the fourth section we provide information on the study presented in this paper.
Finally, the research question and hypotheses are described in the last section of this
chapter.
2.1
Pragmatics and referential communication
Scholars have been discussing the phenomenon overspecification for several years now.
This phenomenon is especially interesting when studied from a pragmatic point of view.
Pragmatics is the study of language affected by the context in which the communicative
process takes place. Pragmatics allows us to investigate how language producers and
receivers are able to interpret messages in the communicative process, a process in which a
minimum of two participants are involved: at least a language producer (sender of the
message) and a language receiver (receiver of the message).
According to pragmatic approaches to language, referring expressions support the
communicative function in language (Clark, 1996; Levinson, 1983; Mey, 2001; Renkema,
2004). Referring expressions in communication are utterances pointing out a person, an
object or a place to a language receiver. For example, one might say ‘the green house’, ‘the
small ball’ or ‘the large chair’ in the communicative process. The language producer
communicates this expression to the language receiver and the receiver tries to understand
and interpret the expression correctly. In a situation with several objects (referents), the
language producer tries to provide an unambiguous expression to enable the receiver of the
expression to identify the target referent correctly. In the referential communicative process
this is the main intention of the language producer. However, to fulfill this intention language
producers tend to refer to the object by using more modifiers than required in their referring
expression (Engelhardt, Bailey, & Ferreira, 2006). In other words, providing more information
about the referent than necessary for correctly identifying the target referent in the
6
expression. When this occurs in a communicative setting it is overspecificied information in
language (Pechmann, 1989).
In this paper we use the term ‘overspecified information’ instead of ‘redundant
information’, following Pechmann (1989) when referring to language containing more
information than strictly necessary. Pechmann also states that the term ‘redundancy’ refers
to a part of the communicative message that does not attribute to the informativeness of the
message, which is another reason to use the term ‘overspecification’.
In Pechmann’s (1989) research he refers to three types of specification in language:
minimal specification, underspecification and overspecification. Minimally specified referring
expressions are expressions that include just enough (minimal) information to correctly
identify the target referent. When there is not enough information available in the referring
expression to identify the target referent correctly, the expression is underspecified. And, as
mentioned before, overspecification occurs when the language producer is overly specific
and the referring expression is more informative than necessary for correct identification of
the target referent.
When using overspecifications in referring expressions, language producers do not
adhere to one of the Gricean Maxims of Quantity (Grice, 1975). Grice (1975) created four
maxims that refer to expectations of people’s behavior in conversations: language producers
should not say less or more than required (maxim of quantity), language producers should
tell the truth and avoid unfounded statements (maxim of quality), language producers should
provide a relevant contribution to the conversation (maxim of relation) and language
producers should avoid obscurity and ambiguity (maxim of manner). Semantically,
overspecification does not comply with part two in Grice’s quantity maxim (Grice, 1975): (1)
make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current information is not
required in the communicative setting and the extra information slows down the
communication purposes of the exchange); (2) do not make your contribution more
informative than is required.
2.2
Theories of overspecification
Overspecification in referring expressions, according to Grice (1975), is unnecessary in the
communication process. Overspecification in language carries a negative connotation that is
inherent to the first part of the word, since ‘over’ relates to the meaning of ‘too much’.
Although overspecification does not contribute to the propositional meaning, adult language
producers frequently use it in their daily communicative messages (Pechmann, 1989; Arts,
Maes, Noordman & Jansen, 2000). Therefore, the phenomenon ‘overspecification’ is
7
interesting for the research field of pragmatics. Although it may be pragmatically correct to
overspecify in language, it is still not well understood in which circumstances language
producers use overspecified referring expressions in a communicative setting. These can be
speaker-oriented or listener-oriented (Arnold, 2008).
According to Davies and Katsos (2009), listeners (language receivers)
overspecified
language
as
negative
since
speakers
(language
interpret
producers)
using
overspecified information are not only actually adhering to the needs of the listeners, but also
to speaker-oriented factors. In addition to this, Belke and Meyer (2002) investigated a
speaker-oriented factor: the tendency to mention perceptually salient modifiers. They found
that language producers tend to use color as an overspecified modifier in their referring
expressions.
Van der Sluis and Krahmer (2007) demonstrate another speaker-oriented factor causing
overspecification in language: uncertainty. The speaker wants to increase his trust in
contributing to the identification process of the correct target object. Therefore, when the
speaker becomes uncertain about providing unambiguous information about the target
object, he or she decides to give more information to ensure successful communication.
By providing more information than necessary, the speaker is contributing to the listeneroriented process, which is the focus in this study. While often using overspecification, the
speaker is not always aware of the fact that he or she mentions non-relevant additional
information. An underlying reason for this could be that the speaker wants to also help the
listener in correctly identifying the target object in the referring expression (Pechmann, 1989).
Levelt (1989) argues that helping the listener in the communicative process is an important
aspect of the main task to convey a message. The speaker wants to makes it easier for the
listener to identify the target referent in a referring expression (Dale & Reiter, 1995).
Arnold (2008) also suggests that overspecification makes it easier for the listener to
correctly identify the target object in the referring expression. In this respect, Deutsch (1976),
Mangold and Pobel (1988) and Sonnenschein (1982; 1984; 1985) show that an object
referred to by using overspecified language is easier to identify compared to a minimally
specified object. Identification time decreased in case the referring expression included
overspecified modifiers (Deutsch, 1976).
There is also additional evidence that supports a decrease in identification time
whenever overspecified language is used. Arts, Maes, Noordman and Jansen (2003)
performed a perception experiment to measure the effects of overspecified language in
instructive texts. The results show that the listener who had to execute an instruction, could
identify the target referent in the referring expression more quickly when overspecified
referring expressions were used. However, this only was the case when the overspecified
8
information included in the referring expression fully completed the mental image of the
target referent. These findings support the suggestion of Levelt (1989) that when the speaker
uses overspecifications when referring to an object, the listener is able to create a complete
mental representation of the object to be identified. In this way, overspecification speeds up
the identification process of the target referent (Arts, Maes, Noordman & Jansen, 2011).
Although the studies previously mentioned show that overspecification helps the
language receiver in identifying the target object correctly, there also are studies arguing that
overspecification does not help the language receiver at all. The results of an eye tracking
experiment (Engelhardt, Bailey & Ferreira, 2006) show that listeners were slowed down by
overspecified information in referring expressions when they had to identify the target
referent, and this result has been replicated (Engelhardt, Demiral & Ferreira, 2011).
Engelhardt, Bailey and Ferreira (2006) also reported that listeners are sensitive to
underspecified information, but not to overspecified information. However, Davies and
Katsos (2013) responded to their investigation by performing a new study that manipulated
the factors favoring the use of overspecification. This study shows that listeners are sensitive
to both underspecification and overspecification.
These studies discuss the speaker’s urge or need to help the listener in the identification
process, but the speech context itself can also cause the language producer to overspecify in
a message. Therefore, an important aspect is the importance of the context (Arts et al.,
2008). An extreme example of a very important task is when a co-assistant has to identify
one specific medical instrument among a larger set of instruments available for a surgeon
during an important operation. Arts et al. (2008) showed that both the speaker’s task
orientation and distant responsibility motivate the use of overspecified modifiers in
communication. High production of overspecified modifiers is related to the ‘principle of
distant responsibility’ (Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986): the listener cannot ask the speaker for
clarification in a non-feedback setting and this motivates the speaker to be highly informative
(Clark, 1996). In fact, the speaker wants to minimize the risk that the receiver would not be
able to successfully perform the target identification (Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986). Being
highly informative is an underlying cause to help the listener, which was mentioned earlier in
this section (Arnold, 2008; Sonnenschein,1985).
In sum, the studies mentioned in this section show several factors causing the speaker
to use overspecification in language. Firstly, the speaker-oriented factor uncertainty is
mentioned. Secondly, the speaker wanting to help the listener in correctly identifying the
target object is an underlying listener-oriented cause of overspecified language. As described
before, there is still a debate about whether overspecified language facilitates or hinders the
identification process of target referents. Though some studies (Belke & Meyer, 2002;
9
Engelhardt, Bailey & Ferreira, 2006; Davies & Katsos, 2009; Engelhardt, Demiral & Ferreira,
2011) argue that overspecification has negative impact on adult listeners, adult speakers still
use overspecified language for successful communication. Finally, a very important task can
cause the speaker to use overspecified modifiers to refer to the target object. In our
perspective, the use of overspecified modifiers in language mostly affects the identification
process of the listener in a positive way since it serves a purpose in the communicative
process.
2.3
Children and overspecification
Many studies discuss the effects of overspecified language in referring expressions on adult
language receivers. However, this might be different for children. Therefore, in this section
we provide a literature overview of research focusing on children. In the first part of this
section (2.3.1) we discuss how children use overspecification in their own language. This is
followed by results of research on how children understand overspecified language (2.3.2).
2.3.1 Language production
Since we expect that the effects of overspecification in referring expressions differ for adults
and children, we have to understand the possible reasons for this. It is likely that young
children do not overspecify, because they do not have ‘distant responsibility’ (Clark & WilkesGibbs, 1986) and produce language without taking into account the recipient of the
communicative message very much. It is even so, that young children in the age between
two and four underspecify when producing language (Matthews, Lieven & Tomasello, 2007).
However, Matthews, Lieven and Tomasello (2007) showed that these young children, who
tended to use underspecified descriptions in referring expressions, are able to produce
unambiguous descriptions when clarifying the target referent.
In referential communication of five-year-old children we see a quite similar pattern, they
often produce underspecified descriptions. However, children in the age of five sometimes
also use overspecified descriptions when identifying a target referent (Ford & Olson, 1975).
In contrast, Davies and Katsos (2010) show that five-year-olds do not use any overspecified
expressions in their target descriptions. They are not aware of the possible advantages of
overspecified information for the identification process (Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986).
However, children in the age of five or younger, seem to make use of underspecified
object descriptions when referring to a target object, children that are seven or eight years
old use more overspecified descriptions for a successful identification process (Pechmann,
1989). Earlier research of Ford and Olson (1975), followed by a study of Whitehurst (1976),
10
shows evidence that seven-year-old children often use overspecified descriptions for correct
target identification.
Based on previous studies (Matthews, Lieven & Tomasello, 2007; Ford & Olson, 1975;
Davis & Katsos, 2010; Pechmann, 1989; Whitehurst, 1976) we can argue that the older the
children become, the more they use overspecified expressions in their communication.
Sonnenschein (1985) supports this by showing that nine and ten year olds overspecify more
often than six- and seven-year-olds. Another study (Van den Bemd, 2012) confirms the
pattern showing that older children, in the age of 12, use more overspecifications in their
language than younger children between the age of six and seven.
Comparing several studies into the language of children, we can conclude that age acts
as a predictor of the use of overspecified modifiers in referring expressions. The older the
child is, the more he or she uses overspecified language (Van den Bemd, 2012; Pechmann,
1989; Sonnenschein; 1985). Pechmann (1989) argues that limited cognitive capacities of
children could also be an underlying cause for using overspecifications. Between the ages of
six and ten or eleven, children develop their cognitive capacities and learn how to effectively
use overspecifications.
2.3.2 Language comprehension
The research described above investigated overspecification in the language production of
children. The main focus is on producing referring expressions helping the listener in
identifying the target referent using identification experiments. However, some studies have
been conducted on the effects of overspecified language on the comprehension of the
message communicated. For example, when children are exposed to the referring
expression ‘the green ball’ in a situation where there is only one ball present. Do they
understand that ‘green’ as an overspecified modifier does not contribute to the meaning of
referring expression? Are they aware that adding an extra modifier serves a communicative
function instead?
There are some studies that investigated the effects of overspecified language on the
comprehension of a child-directed message. In line with the production studies, these studies
investigated overspecification by conducting identification tasks. Sonnenschein (1982)
investigated differences in comprehension between young children that are five or six years
old and children that are nine or ten years old. Five and six years olds did not benefit from
the use of overspecified modifiers in a target description; overspecified information did not
help them with correct identification of the target object. Sonnenschein argues that young
children do not process the overspecified information in the target description, because they
11
lack cognitive abilities to remember this information. Still, overspecifications helped nine- and
ten-year-old children in the identification task.
Interestingly, the linguistic research field does not contain a lot of studies into
overspecified language including experiments where the focus is not on identifying the target
referent. Koolen (2013) did not examine the effects of overspecified modifiers in referring
expressions in the light of target identification. He conducted an experiment where the main
focus was not to identify a target object for the language receiver. Children in the age of six
and nine had to perform a forced-choice task in order to investigate their ability to judge
overspecified information. In the main experiment, the six- and nine-year-olds were exposed
to two identical sweets. After that, they were asked to choose one sweet. The first sweet was
described by including the minimal information that was necessary for correct identification of
the sweet. The other sweet was described by adding some extra information about the color
or shape of the sweet. Since the sweets were identical, there should be no reason to prefer
one of the two sweets in the choice experiment. However, the results show a clear distinction
between the two sweets. The six-year-old children were more likely to choose the sweet that
was described by the expression including overspecified information. More specifically, the
color modifiers had more impact on children’s choice than shape modifiers. This effect of
overspecified information was not the case for the nine-year-olds. So the younger children
are sensitive to overspecified language (Koolen, 2013). Subsequently, Koolen added a
second experiment where children had to indicate their choice by rating the taste of the
sweet on a five-points smiley scale. The results of this experiment showed a similar pattern.
For the first time, an experiment (Koolen, 2013) was conducted that included a choice
task. Based on minimally specified or overspecified information in a target description,
children were asked to show their preferences. It is argued that overspecified information
should not have an impact on choice, but when this extra information is available language
receivers use it in their choices (Bastardi & Shafir, 1998). Bastardi and Shafir suggest that
when language users take overspecified information into account they could make choices
that they would otherwise not have made. In the research of Koolen (2013) the children were
exposed to two sweets of which the sweet including a description with overspecified
information was chosen the most. Imagine, for example that a sweet is promoted in an
advertisement. In that situation it could be very important to know which description is
preferred and in which circumstances children are more likely to want or purchase the sweet
advertised. However, when we use overspecified language in a persuasive context like an
advertisement, the effects on language receivers are unknown.
12
2.4 Current study
In this paper we describe the research into overspecified referring expressions used in
instructive texts. What happens if we apply all knowledge about overspecification in
instructive texts to the research field of persuasive text messages? This study examines the
possible impact and effects of overspecification on the persuasiveness of product
advertisements. In addition, we investigate the interest in the advertised product and the
presentation mode of the product description in the advertisement.
Firstly, in this paper we focus on nine-year-old children. We have seen that children in
the age of seven and eight start to use overspecification (Ford & Olson, 1975; Whitehurst,
1976). Furthermore, a recent study (Koolen, 2013) shows that nine-year-old children are not
sensitive to overspecified language. A reason for this could be that nine-year-olds are able to
notice that overspecified language is unnecessary. We are curious however how this holds in
an experiment that investigates overspecification in the light of a persuasive context where
the communicative purpose is different. Therefore, the target group in this paper includes
nine-year-old children.
Secondly, in this experiment we use products children are interested in, based on a pilot
with six- and nine-year-old children. This pilot examined the effects of overspecification on
the persuasiveness of advertisements. Although this pilot did not show any significant result,
a trend in the results for the nine-year-old children was noticed. For the highly interesting
advertised products, overspecification seems to have a negative impact on persuasiveness.
In other words, it may be that when children are very interested in the product (target object),
overspecification will negatively influence the perception of the nine-year-old children.
A study of Hidi and Baird (1986) investigated interest in relation to learning. They argue
that the interest level has an impact on how much we learn about a text. It might be that the
interest level also has other effects in a textual context, for example that people are not
sensitive to overspecified information in texts when the interest level is high. This
interpretation is related to the findings of the pilot, saying that overspecified information is not
taken into account when people are highly interested in the textual context. In the respect of
the persuasive context in the current paper, we distinguish several interest levels since
people have a natural interest for products (Vaughn, 1986), being more interested in certain
products than in other products. Therefore, we use a high, neutral and low interest level to
categorize the advertised products.
Furthermore, the advertised products in this study are presented by using product
descriptions. Since the presentation mode could affect the persuasiveness of the
advertisement (Chaiken & Eagly, 1976; Sparks, Areni & Cox, 1998), the product description
is presented in three different ways: as an audio fragment, a text message or a combination
13
of the two (audio and text). These presentation modes are based on the studies of Chaiken
and Eagly (1976) and Sparks, Areni and Cox (1998) that argue that different presentation
modes differ in the effectiveness of persuasion perceived by the language receiver. Chaiken
and Eagly (1976) investigated the effects of presentation mode on the effectiveness of
persuasive communication. They argue that in simple short messages, as used in the
experiment described in this paper, an audio fragment is more persuasive than a written text
message. This result is supported by Sparks, Areni and Cox (1998). They also showed
results that audio communication is more persuasive than text. In addition, they argue that
persuasive communication in text messages are processed by the central route and that the
quality of arguments is important in this process. Since literature does not describe the
effects of a combination of audio and text messages on persuasion, we added a third
presentation mode combining an audio message and a text message in a persuasive
context.
The process of text messages is in contrast with the processing of audio fragments in
communication since audio fragments facilitate the processing by the peripheral route of
communication (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). In this process, peripheral cues and the message
form are important factors influencing the persuasiveness of the message. In other words, in
audio communication the language receiver is persuaded by other elements than the content
of the message only, for example by overspecified modifiers. Therefore, we expect that the
effect of overspecified modifiers on persuasion is higher when audio fragments are used as
product descriptions than when the product descriptions are text messages.
Finally, we use different types of overspecified modifiers in the product descriptions.
These descriptions include a set of referring expressions. The expressions differ in
containing minimally specified information about the target product or overspecified
information. An example of a minimally specified description is ‘the ball’ in a situation where
there is just one object available. The other referring expressions about the product are
created by adding overspecified modifiers, both color and size, to the minimally specified
description. Firstly, we added a perceptually salient modifier: ‘color’. On the one hand,
research (Sedivy, 2003; Krahmer, Noordewier, Goudbeek & Koolen, 2013) shows that ‘color’
as an overspecificatied modifier has no effect on the perception of overspecified language.
On the other hand, Koolen (2013) argues that ‘color’ has more impact on choice behavior
than ‘shape’ as an overspecified modifier. Secondly, we used the modifier ‘size’, because
children may be sensitive to size information when considering the purchase of a product.
For example, a ‘large ball’ may be more persuasive than a ‘small ball’. Based on Koolen
(2013), different types of overspecified modifiers have a different effect on the perception of
overspecification in language. Since we have no knowledge of the behavior of the modifiers
14
‘color’ and ‘size’ in a persuasive text message, we used both in the referring expressions of
the product descriptions to investigate the effects.
2.5 Research question and hypotheses
The possible effects of overspecification in persuasive texts did not yet receive a lot of
attention in the linguistic research field. The research discussed at the beginning of this
paper shows a gap in the linguistic research field concerning overspecification. This study
aims to fill this gap and tries to investigate the effects of overspecification on young language
receivers in a persuasive context. Based on several factors that could influence the effects of
overspecification we want to investigate the following research question:
RQ: What are the effects of overspecified product descriptions on the purchase
intention of nine-year-old children in relation to the product’s interest level
and the presentation mode of the description?
In this paper, we argue that overspecification of the product description has an impact on the
purchase intention of nine-year-old children concerning advertised products, but it depends
on several factors: interest level of the product, the presentation mode of the product
description and the type of referring expression used to describe the product.
Firstly, we expect that the interest level affects the purchase intention of nine-year-old
children. Since people are more interested in certain products than in other products (a
natural interest for products), this will influence the purchase intention (Vaughn, 1986).
Therefore, we use a high, neutral and low interest level to categorize the advertised
products. We expect that products in the high interest category show a higher purchase
intention than products in the neutral and low interest categories. Hypothesis 1a is as
following:
H1a
Purchase intention is higher for the high interest level than for the neutral and low
interest level products.
In addition, based on a pilot that was performed previously, we suggest that interest affects
the influence of overspecified information on the purchase intention of nine-year-olds.
Findings of an investigation by Hidi and Baird (1986) suggest that people learn more when
the interest level is high. Based on this finding, interest could also have other effects in a
certain textual context, affecting the way children process minimally specified and
15
overspecified information. It may be that - when children are very interested in the product overspecification will have less impact on the persuasiveness of the text since modifiers are
just not taken into account. We expect, based on the previous pilot, that for high interest
products, overspecified modifiers (color and size) have less impact on purchase intention
than for neutral and low interest products. This results in the following hypothesis:
H1b
Overspecification has less impact on the purchase intention for the high interest level
products than for neutral and low interest level products.
Furthermore, based on studies of Chaiken and Eagly (1976) and Sparks, Areni and Cox
(1998), we expect that the presentation mode of the product description in the advertisement
could affect the purchase intention of children. They argue that audio messages are the most
persuasive. We expect that audio fragments result in a higher purchase intention than textual
product descriptions and a combination of the two presentation modes (text/audio).
Therefore, we formulate the following hypothesis:
H2a
Purchase intention is higher for the audio presentation mode than for the text and
text/audio presentation modes.
In addition, it could be that the presentation mode of the product descriptions relates to the
possible effects of overspecification on purchase intention. Where text messages are
processed by the central route of communication, audio fragments facilitate the process by
the peripheral route (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Language receivers of audio communication
are affected by peripheral cues, such as overspecification, present in persuasive
communication. Therefore, we expect that overspecified referring expressions, including
color and size modifiers, have more influence on the purchase intention of nine-year-olds
when the product descriptions are in the audio presentation mode than in the text/audio and
text presentation modes. This results in the following hypothesis:
H2b
Overspecification has more influence on purchase intention in the audio presentation
mode than in the text and text/audio presentation modes.
Finally, we expect that different modifiers, minimally specified and overspecified, have
different effects on the purchase intention of children. This expectation is based on research
findings by Koolen (2013). He shows that minimally specified and overspecified descriptions
have a different effect on children’s choice for objects. For example, he shows that color has
16
more impact on children’s choice than shape (as an overspecified modifier). In this way,
different modifiers may have different effects on the perception of children. In this study, we
use color and size as overspecified modifiers. We expect that referring expressions including
a size modifier result in a higher purchase intention than the referring expressions including a
color modifier and minimally specified information since children may be sensitive to size
information when considering the purchase of a product. Based on this expectation, we
present the last hypothesis:
H3
Purchase intention is higher for referring expressions including a size modifier than for
referring expressions including a color modifier or a referring expression including
minimally specified information.
In the following sections we first describe the methodology of this investigation (section 3).
Then, we give an overview of the results of the experiment (section 4) and provide
conclusions (section 5). Finally, in section 6 we elaborate on what the findings mean for the
linguistic research field of overspecification. In addition we discuss the limitations of the
current study and we give suggestions for future research.
17
3 Method
For this investigation an experiment was performed, but also a pre-test. Both tests are
described in this section. Firstly, the method used for the pre-test is explained in detail.
Secondly, the concrete method of the experiment is described. We provide additional
information about the participants, the materials used, the instrumentation used to gather
data, the research design and the procedure applied during the experiment. Furthermore,
this chapter contains information about the methodology used to analyze the data gathered
during the experiment and about the statistical analyses that were used.
3.1
Participants
A total number of 67 people participated in the experiment. The population consisted of 42
(62.7%) male participants and 25 (37.3%) female participants. The participants were all nineyear-old children with an average age of 9.3 (ranging between 8.7 and 9.8) and recruited
from three different primary schools: 15 children from (1) ‘Basisschool St. Martinus Beegden’,
19 children from (2) ‘Basisschool Het Dal Weert’ and 33 children from (3) ‘Bredeschool
Moesel Weert’; all schools are located in the Dutch province of Limburg.
Three weeks before the experiment, all parents received a consent form (Appendix I) to
give their children permission to participate in the experiment. All parents signed the consent
form. All 67 children came from predominantly Dutch-speaking families (which was confirmed
by the administration offices of the primary schools) and the language used in the study was
Dutch.
3.2
Materials
The materials used consisted of short toy advertisements for 9-year old children. For all
advertisements both the basic lay-out and structure were identical. However, the
advertisements differed in the manipulation of the advertised product, the product description
and the presentation mode of the product description.
3.2.1 Lay-out and structure
The basic lay-out of the product advertisements included an image of the advertised product,
a description of the advertised product, the age category of the advertised product and the
18
lay-out of the Toy Store magazine Intertoys. Since this toy store is commonly known to
children in the Netherlands, the lay-out of real advertisements in the Intertoys magazine was
used in this experiment. However, the product price was omitted in the advertisement since it
could influence the involvement with the advertised product. An example of the lay-out and
structure equal for the total set of advertisements, is depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Example of the lay-out and structure of the advertisements
Below, the manipulations of the advertised product type, the product description and the
presentation mode of the product description are described.
3.2.2 Product type
The advertised products used in the experiment, were categorized by the participant’s level
of interest in the product. To investigate this a pre-test was performed. The goal of this pretest was to create a set of 12 products with three different categories: (1) low interest level,
(2) neutral interest level and (3) high interest level.
A total number of 28 children with a mean age of 9.1 (ranging between 8.7 and 9.3)
participated in the pre-test. These participants were recruited at primary school ‘St. Oda
Boshoven’ in Weert. This primary school is also located in the Dutch province Limburg. The
pre-test was performed in four groups of children, each group performing the pre-test in one
classroom at the same time. None of the participants in the pre-test participated in the actual
experiment.
19
The participants received a form including 30 product images. We tried to create a set of
product images that differed for every level of product interest. The products were selected
from several websites like ‘Toys “R” Us’, ‘Bart Smit’ and ‘Intertoys’. Furthermore, the age
category and the gender category of the online products were taken into account while
selecting the set of products for the pre-test. The majority of the product images was neutral
for gender, except for two products: the Nintendo (t(26) = -4.45, p < .025) and the Furby (t(26) =
-2.23, p < .05). Colors that are familiar to the nine-year-old children were used to create a set
of products: orange, yellow, red, blue, purple and green.
By using a written questionnaire the interest of the children in each of the products was
measured (Appendix II). The interest level was determined by measuring and ranking the
attitude toward the products shown by the participants. Three attitude items were used to
measure the attitude toward the products: (A) ‘I would like to play with’ (daar zou ik graag
mee spelen), (B) ‘I like’ (vind ik leuk) and (C) ‘Makes me happy when I have it’ (daar word ik
blij van als ik die heb). For measuring these three attitude items a 10-points scale was used.
Children in this age are familiar with this 1-10 scale, since the grades at primary school are
defined using this scale. The attitude scale has a high reliability, Cronbach’s α = .96 (Van
Wijk 2000, p. 215-221).
The statistical outcomes were calculated by means of the SPSS software program.
Based on the mean score of the concept attitude 12 products for the main experiment were
selected. These 12 products were divided into three interest levels by analyzing the
outcomes. Figure 2 represents the 12 selected products for the main experiment
distinguished in terms of the interest level of the product. The (1) low interest level products
were selected by choosing the four lowest product means. Next, the (2) neutral interest level
products were the ones that scored closest to the overall mean score (M = 6.87): two product
means lower than the mean score and two product means higher than the mean score.
Finally, (3) the four highest product means were selected to create the high interest level
category. Since there were too few cases of each product in the three interest levels, a
reliability analysis could not be performed.
20
Low interest level
Neutral interest level
High interest level
Jojo (jojo)
Basketball (basketbal)
Tablet (tablet)
Helmet (fietshelm)
Furby (furby)
Trampoline (trampoline)
Binocular (verrekijker)
Microscope (microscoop)
Nintento (nintendo)
Bubble blower (bellenblaas)
Stuffed animal (knuffel)
Swing (schommel)
Figure 2: 12 selected products for the advertisements
21
3.2.3 Product descriptions
The products selected were described using different product descriptions. The product
descriptions included the noun, but the definite article was left out to make sure that the
advertisements were as realistic as possible. The product descriptions were manipulated by
including several overspecified modifiers.
Six different types of referring expressions were used to describe the advertised
products. The first referring type contained only the noun and was minimally specified, for
example ‘tablet’. One or more overspecified modifiers were in the product description to
create the other five types of referring expressions. Only color and size, both object
modifiers, were used as overspecified modifiers. Some researchers argue that color has no
effect on perception (Sedivy, 2003; Krahmer, Noordewier, Goudbeek & Koolen, 2013), but
Koolen (2013) argues that color has more impact on choice than shape as an overspecified
modifier. Based on his research, different types of overspecified modifiers have a different
effect on the perception of overspecification in language. Furthermore, we added size as an
overspecified modifier. We suggest that size, considering toys, could have an effect on the
perception of children since children are sensitive to size. In the referring expressions, six
values of the modifier ‘color’ were used (yellow, orange, red, green, blue and purple) and two
values (small, large) of the modifier ‘size’. The referring expression type, are listed below:
1. Noun
E.g. ‘Tablet’
2. Noun + adjective 1a (large)
E.g. ‘Large tablet’
(overspecified)
3. Noun + adjective 1b (small)
E.g. ‘Small tablet’
(overspecified)
4. Noun + adjective 2 (color)
E.g. ‘Green tablet’
(overspecified)
5. Noun + adjective 1a & 2
E.g. ‘Large green tablet’
(overspecified)
6. Noun + adjective 1b &2
E.g. ‘Small green tablet’
(overspecified)
(minimally specified)
The manipulations of the descriptions of all products are represented in Appendix III. In
addition, examples of advertisements including the six types of referring expressions are
presented in Appendix IV.
3.2.4 Presentation mode
Once the six different types of referring expressions were created for the product
descriptions in the advertisements, they could occur in three separate presentation modes:
as audio, as text or as a combination of the two.
The audio fragment, a pre-recorded description of the advertised product, was played
while the advertisement itself was shown in the audio presentation mode. The total set of
22
pre-recorded descriptions was produced by the experiment leader, a female voice with a
neutral intonation to avoid contrastive accents marking overspecified modifiers in the
referring expressions. These product descriptions were recorded using Audacity as an audio
editor.
In the text presentation mode, the referring expression was positioned as written text
below the product in the advertisement (as shown in Figure 1). In the audio presentation
mode (Figure 3) the referring expression was only presented by means of an audio-fragment.
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online
Figure 3: An example an advertisement in the audio presentation mode
Furthermore, in the text/audio presentation mode the product description was textually
present in the advertisement. In addition, after three seconds, the referring expression was
played as an audio-fragment. The advertisements were shown to the participants for
1tenseconds; the participants were randomly assigned to one presentation mode.
3.3
Instrumentation
The participants were asked to indicate their purchase intention with three attitude items:
(1) I would like to have
(wil ik graag hebben)
(2) I would like to get for my birthday
(wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen)
(3) I would like to purchase immediately
(wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel)
23
These attitude items were measured on a 10-points scale. The purchase intention scale had
a high reliability, Cronbach’s α = .94 (Van Wijk 2000, p. 215-221). In this way, the three items
were reliable measurements of this scale. The items were textually presented in the
questionnaire and the children could respond to the items in the questionnaire themselves.
The questionnaire form used is presented in Appendix V.
3.4
Research design
As described before, this experiment consisted of three versions: (1) an advertisement with
the product description textually present, (2) an advertisement with the product description
played as an audio fragment, and (3) an advertisement including both presentation modes
(text and audio). In this way, the experiment had a between-subject design with the
presentation mode as an independent variable. Each participant was exposed to a set of 12
trials, e.g. advertisements, in one of the three presentation modes. Overall, for each
presentation mode there was an example trial and in total there were 216 trials implemented
in this experiment (3 presentation modes x 12 products x 6 referring expression types).
There were two other independent variables in this experiment: product type and type of
referring expression. First, the independent variable product type consisted of 12 different
levels referring to 12 different products used in the advertisements: jojo, basketball, tablet,
helmet, furby, trampoline, binocular, microscope, nintendo, bubble blower, stuffed animal and
swing. The participants were exposed to all levels of this variable. Therefore, this
independent variable, product type, is a within-subject variable. Secondly, the independent
variable type of referring expression, also a within-subject variable, consisted of six levels to
describe the advertised product: (1) noun, (2) noun + adjective 1a (large), (3) noun +
adjective 1b (small), (4) noun + adjective 2 (color), (5) noun + adjective 1a/2 (large/color) and
(6) noun + adjective 1b/2 (small/color).
In this experiment the purchase intention of the children was measured as a dependent
variable. This concept, purchase intention, was measured by a scale including the following
items: ‘I would like to have’, ‘I would like to get for my birthday’ and ‘I would like to purchase
immediately’.
In order to prevent order-effects, two orders of the products and types of referring
expressions were created in the trials. More concrete information about this distribution of the
stimuli can be found in Appendix V. Furthermore, two orders of the attitude items were
created: (1) ‘I would like to have’, ‘I would like to get for my birthday’, ‘I would like to purchase
immediately’ and (2) ‘I would like to purchase immediately’, ‘I would like to have’, ‘I would like
to get for my birthday’. These two orders were equally distributed over the questionnaires.
24
3.5
Procedure
Each participant was exposed to a set of 12 trials and was randomly assigned to a
presentation mode. For all three presentation modes the procedure was identical. The
experiments were all performed individually in February 2013 and had a running time of
approximately 15 minutes.
After a child had entered the room in the school, it was asked to take place in front of the
laptop used for the experiment. During the experiment the experiment leader was seated
next to the child to control the procedure. First, the child was welcomed and was individually
informed by the experiment leader. The instructions were orally provided to each participant.
Appendix VI provides the three versions of the script of instructions for the participants.
The experiment leader explained that the child would be exposed to several pictures of
toys, and that the description of the product would become available (in either text, audio, or
text/audio) while looking at these pictures. The instructions for the participant regarding the
type of the description depended on the presentation mode of the experiment. In the audio
and text/audio presentation mode, the audio fragment of the product description was played
after three seconds. It was emphasized that it was very important to carefully read the
product description and to listen to the product description in the advertisement. Each
advertisement was exposed to the participants for ten seconds. After that, the advertisement
disappeared and a white screen with ‘Answer the questions’ appeared on the laptop. Based
on the product description, the child had to indicate the purchase intention by responding to
three items that were present on the questionnaire located on the table in front of the
participant. The participant had to encircle one of the ten numbers on the scale next to the
items.
Subsequently, the experiment leader informed the child that he or she could not provide
any wrong answers during this experiment. Furthermore, the child was informed that he or
she did not have to use the laptop, since the laptop was only used by the experiment leader
during the experiment. Again, it was emphasized that the child had to encircle one number
for each item. The experimental trial started with a practice trial (Appendix VII) to give the
child the possibility to ask questions about the task before the 12 trials of the actual
experiment started.
The child was randomly assigned to an experimental condition (in either text, audio or
text/audio). The procedure was identical for all three conditions and the duration time of a
single experiment was about ten minutes. The experiment was individually performed in a
quiet office at the primary schools. After completing the experiment, the child was thanked for
participating and was offered some candy.
25
3.6
Statistical analyses
The statistical outcomes were calculated by means of the IBM Statistics SPSS 21.0 software
program. The reliability of the purchase intention scale was evaluated by applying the
Cronbach’s alpha. Furthermore, to test for differences between the levels of the independent
variables presentation mode, type of referring expression and interest level, a univariate
analysis (three-way ANOVA) was performed. To investigate the data of the independent
variable type of referring expression more in detail, a multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was
applied to separate the dependent variable purchase intention. In addition, the Bonferroni
correction method (post-hoc test) was used to test for differences between the levels of
interest level, type of referring expression and presentation mode.
26
4 Results
In this section, the results of the analyses are described. Firstly, the main effect of interest
level on purchase intention is described. Secondly, for purchase intention the main effect of
presentation mode (condition) is discussed. Finally, the effects of the overspecified modifiers
in the different types of referring expressions used to describe the product, are explained.
Interestingly, we noticed a trend in the results of the type of referring expression by
creating two separate categories of the modifiers used in these referring expressions. The
results are explained in more detail at the end of this section. Interaction results are only
reported if significant.
4.1 Interest level effect
The interest level of the product was analyzed to check whether the interest levels based on
the pre-test results, were well developed. Figure 4 represents the purchase intention related
Purchase intention
to the interest level of the advertised products.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
7.92
6.66
4.16
Low
Figure 4
Neutral
Interest level
High
Purchase intention related to the interest level of the advertised products
(minimum score of 1, maximum score of 10)
Figure 4 shows a clear difference between the interest levels of the advertised products in
terms of the purchase intention of the children. This difference is supported by a main effect
of interest level on purchase intention (F(2,750) = 173.54, p < .001, ω = .23). Pairwise
comparisons, using a Bonferroni correction method, revealed that the purchase intention of
the high interest products (M = 7.92, SD = .15) was significantly higher than the purchase
intention of neutral interest products (M = 6.66, SD = .15, p <.001) and low interest products
27
(M = 4.16, SD = .15, p <.001). This post-hoc test also revealed a significant difference
between the purchase intention of the neutral and low interest products (p <.001). The
purchase intention of the neutral interest products (M = 6.66, SD = .15) was significantly
higher than the purchase intention of the low interest products (M = 4.16, SD = . 15). The
analysis confirmed that the interest levels were well created based on the results of the pretest.
4.2 Condition effect: presentation mode
Figure 5 depicts the purchase intention related to the presentation mode of the referring
Purchase intention
expression in the advertisement.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
6.66
5.98
Text
Figure 5
Audio
Presentation mode
6.10
Text + Audio
Purchase intention related to the presentation mode
(minimum score of 1, maximum score of 10)
Figure 5 shows an effect of the presentation mode of the referring expression on purchase
intention (F(2,750) = 6.27, p < .005, ω =.04). The intention to purchase the advertised products
differed for the three presentation modes present in the advertisements. For pairwise
comparisons a Bonferroni correction method was used to gain more specific results. These
results showed a higher purchase intention in the audio mode (M = 6.66, SD = .15) than in
the text mode (M = 5.98, SD = .15, p < .005). Furthermore, the pairwise comparisons also
showed a significant difference between the purchase intention in the audio mode and the
text/audio mode (p < .025). The audio mode type showed a higher purchase intention (M =
6.66, SD = .15) than when the referring expressions were exposed in the text/audio mode
type (M = 6.10, SD = .14).
28
4.3 Overspecification effect
4.3.1 All types of referring expressions
Table 1 shows the purchase intention related to the type of referring expression used to
describe the advertised product.
Table 1
Purchase intention as a function of the referring expression type
(minimum score of 1, maximum score of 10)
Referring expression type
Purchase
intention
noun
noun
+ large
noun
+ small
noun
+color
noun
+large
+color
noun
+small
+color
6.33
6.59
5.84
5.98
6.68
6.06
Table 1 shows a main effect of the type of referring expression on purchase intention (F(5, 750)
= 2.78, p < .025, ω = .04). A Bonferroni post-hoc method revealed no significant differences
between the different types of referring expression in relation to the intention to purchase the
advertised products. However, these pairwise comparisons, as a result of the Bonferroni
post-hoc method, showed a trend of the expression type with ‘small’ (klein) as an
overspecified modifier (M = 5.84, SD = .21) compared to the expression type including both
‘large’ (groot) and ‘color’ (kleur) (M = 6.68, SD = .21) as overspecification modifiers (p =
.058).
4.3.2 Comparing two specific types of referring expressions
The pairwise comparisons showed a noticeable trend towards significance between the
purchase intention of the ‘small’ (klein) referring expression type and the ‘large/color’
(groot/kleur) referring expression type which are both represented in Table 1. More specific
results were required to analyze this trend.
Therefore, a multivariate analysis was applied to obtain more knowledge about the
connection between the items used to measure the purchase intention. Three specific items
were used: (1) ‘I would like to have’ (dat wil ik graag hebben), (2) ‘I would like to get for my
birthday’ (dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen) and (3) ‘I would like to purchase
immediately’ (dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel). In the multivariate analysis these
three items were used as three separate dependent variables to acquire more specific
results.
29
Figure 6 depicts the ‘would like to have’ the advertised products (item 1) in relation to the
Would like to have
type of referring expression which was used to describe these products.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
6.74
6.92
noun
noun +
large
7.22
6.24
6.46
noun +
small
noun +
color
6.45
noun +
large +
color
noun +
small +
color
Referring expression type
Figure 6
Would like to have the advertised products related to the type of
referring expression (minimum score of 1, maximum score of 10)
Figure 6 shows that ‘would like to have’ was not equal for the different referring expression
types. This is reflected as a main effect of referring expression type on the need to have the
advertised product (as a component of purchase intention) (F(5, 750) = 2.94, p < .025, ω = .09).
The Bonferroni method was used as a post-hoc test to obtain more specific results. This
method revealed that the ‘want to have the product’ was higher (p <. 025) for the referring
expression with ‘large’ (groot) and ‘color’ (kleur) as overspecified modifiers (M = 7.22, SD =
.21) than the referring expression with ‘small’ as an overspecified modifier (M = 6.24, SD =
.21).
30
Figure 7 represents the desire to receive the advertised products as a birthday present (item
Desire to receive as a
present
2) in relation to the type of referring expression which was used to describe the products.
Figure 7
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
6.43
6.71
noun
noun +
large
6.87
5.91
6.17
5.99
noun +
noun +
noun +
small
color
large +
Referring expression type color
noun +
small +
color
Desire to receive the advertised product as a birthday present related to
the type of referring expression (minimum score of 1, maximum score of 10)
There is a difference between the types of referring expression in terms of the desire to
receive the advertised products as a birthday present. A multivariate analysis revealed a
significant main effect of the referring expression type on the desire to receive the product as
a birthday present (as a component of purchase intention) (F(5, 750) = 2.85, p < .025, ω = .09).
Pairwise comparisons showed that the desire to receive the product as a birthday present
was higher (p < .05) for the type with ‘large’ (groot) and ‘color’ (kleur) as overspecified
modifiers (M = 6.87, SD = .23) than the referring expression with ‘small’ (klein) as an
overspecified modifier ( M = 5.91, SD = .23) in the description of the advertised products.
Table 2 shows the intention to pick up the advertised product in the store immediately (item
3) related to the referring expression type that described the product in the advertisement.
Table 2
Intention to pick up the advertised product in the store immediately related to
the referring expression type (minimum score of 1, maximum score of 10)
Referring expression type
Pick up
noun
noun
+ large
noun
+ small
noun
+ color
5.81
6.13
5.37
5.49
noun
+ large
+color
5.97
noun
+small
+color
5.56
There was no significant main effect of referring expression type on the intention to pick up
the advertised product in the store immediately (F(5,750) = 1.69, p = .134).
31
5 Conclusion
In this study, the effects of overspecified product descriptions on the purchase intention of
nine-year-old children were investigated in relation to the interest level of the product, the
presentation mode of the product description and the degree of overspecification used in the
product description.
Firstly, the purchase intention of the nine-year-olds is higher for the high interest level
products than for the neutral and low interest level products (H1a). This shows a confirmation
of the first hypothesis. The advertised products in the high interest level showed the highest
purchase intention of the children, followed by the products in the neutral and the low interest
levels. However, there was no interaction between the interest level of the advertised product
and the use of overspecification in the product descriptions. Therefore, hypothesis 1b is
rejected.
Secondly, the presentation mode of the product description in the advertisements
affected the purchase intention of the children. Differences were noted between the three
presentation modes (audio, text and text/audio). The purchase intention of the nine-year-olds
is higher in the audio presentation mode than in the text and text/audio presentation modes
(H2a). Therefore, we can confirm hypothesis 2a and conclude that the pre-recorded audio
fragments of the product descriptions affected the purchase intention of the children the
most. However, there was no interaction between presentation mode and overspecification.
Therefore, hypothesis 2b is rejected.
Finally, the minimally specified and overspecified modifiers used to describe the
advertised products and representing the degree of overspecification, did not influence the
purchase intention of the nine-year-old children. Therefore, the purchase intention was not
higher for referring expressions including size compared to overspecified referring
expressions including color and minimally specified referring expressions; hypothesis 3
therefore is rejected. However, the results showed a trend for the product descriptions
including ‘small’ (klein) as an overspecified modifier compared to the referring expressions
with both ‘large’ (groot) and ‘color’ (kleur) as overspecified modifiers. The trend shows that
the nine-year-old children were more likely to purchase the advertised products whenever
described as large and the color in the product descriptions. This is in contrast with the low
purchase intention of the 9-year-old children when the advertised products were described
as small.
32
6 Discussion
In this paper we studied the effects of overspecified language in product advertisements on
the purchase intention of nine-year-old children. In addition, we investigated the impact of the
level of interest in the product and the presentation mode of the product description on these
possible effects.
Firstly, in section 6.1 we discuss the findings of each factor (interest level, presentation
mode and type of referring expression) and we give a response to the literature discussed in
the theoretical framework (Section 2). Secondly, in section 6.2 we mention the limitations of
the current study and we provide suggestions for future research into overspecified language
use.
6.1
Response to the literature
Firstly, the findings of this study show that nine-year-olds appear to have a different purchase
intention toward the advertised product with regard to the interest level of the product. This
result corresponds to the findings and expectations discussed in the theoretical framework
and is in line with Hidi and Baird (1986) who argue that interest influences the degree of
learning about a text message. Based on Hidi and Baird, we expected high interest to result
in learning more about a text message, in this case a product description. In other words, the
higher the interest level of a product the more we learn about the advertisement and the
higher the purchase intention. Therefore, interest shows to be an important factor in the
persuasive process. In addition, we mentioned the neutral interest for products (Vaugh,
1986); people are more interested in certain products than in other products.
However, the interest level does not affect the influence of overspecification on the
purchase intention of the nine-year-old children; this is not what we expected. Based on a
trend in the results of an earlier pilot, we expected that overspecification would have less
influence on the purchase intention when the children were highly interested in the
advertised product. In other words, we argued that when children are highly interested in the
product, it could be that they were not sensitive to overspecified information in the
advertisement. However, the study result differed from the trend in the pilot, indicating that
the interest level does not impact the effect of overspecification on purchase intention. A
possible explanation for this finding could be that the basis for the trend found in the pilot was
too small and just an example of simple coincidence.
33
Furthermore, the presentation mode of the product description has an impact on the
purchase intention of nine-year-old children. The purchase intention was higher when the
product description was presented as an audio fragment than as a text message or a
combination of the two presentation modes. This finding is in line with the studies of Chaiken
and Eagly (1976) and Sparks, Areni and Cox (1998) who argue that audio communication is
the most effective in persuasion. Chaiken and Eagly (1976) showed in their investigation that
audio communication is the most persuasive in simple short messages like the product
descriptions in the current study. In short, the purchase intention of the children was affected
by the presentation mode of the product description, and the most by audio communication.
This supports the claim that audio communication is more persuasive than text in the
communicative process. Therefore, when the main goal in communication is to persuade the
language receiver, audio communication is the most effective way to achieve this goal.
Even though the presentation mode of the product description affected the purchase
intention of the children, it did not influence the effect of overspecification on the purchase
intention. This shows that there was no interaction between the presentation mode of the
product description and its degree of overspecification. As mentioned before, Petty and
Cacioppo (1986) argue that in audio communication, peripheral cues and the message form
are important factors in the persuasive process. Therefore, in this study we expected
overspecified modifiers (peripheral cues) to be the most persuasive when the product
description was presented as an audio-fragment. Unfortunately, in this study this was not the
case. Since the language receiver is persuaded by other elements than the content of the
message in audio communication (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), it is possible that other elements
in the advertisement distracted the language receiver from the overspecified modifiers in the
product description. For example, it might be that the visual presentation of the advertised
product overruled the use of overspecified modifiers as peripheral cues. In this way, the
children could be influenced by the picture used in the advertisement instead of the product
description including overspecified modifiers. Another explanation for the results against our
expectations could be that the text in the product description was too simple. In this way, the
overspecified modifiers are not recognized by the children and do not function as peripheral
cues helping the language producer persuading the children in audio communication.
While the results of this study showed an effect of interest level of the advertised product
and presentation mode of the product description on the purchase intention, purchase
intention did not show any differences between minimally specified and overspecified
modifiers. This finding was in contrast with our expectation that the purchase intention of the
children would be higher when overspecified modifiers (color and size) were used in the
product description than when minimally specified modifiers were included in the description.
34
This expectation was based on the study performed by Koolen (2013) showing differences in
choice between minimally specified and overspecified modifiers. These differences show that
overspecified modifiers are more persuading than minimally specified modifiers. It is argued
that overspecified information should not impact on choice at all, but when additional
information is available in the product descriptions, the children will use it in their choices
(Bastardi & Shafir, 1998).
Interestingly, the results of the analysis show a main effect of type of referring
expression on purchase intention. However, the post-hoc analysis showed no differences
between the six types of referring expressions. The reason why post-hoc analysis showed no
differences may be that the analysis lacks power, because there was too little data available
in this experiment. With more data available in this study, we may have found an effect of
type of referring expression on the purchase intention of nine-year-old children.
Although the post-hoc analysis did not show results as expected, we noticed a trend in
the differences for purchase intention in type of referring expression. Interestingly, nine-yearolds are more likely to want the advertised products when the size and color modifiers are
used to overspecify the product description than when only size is used as a modifier. This
was also the case for ‘having the product as a birthday present’. More specifically, the
children had the highest purchase intention when the advertised product was described by
overspecified modifiers that refer to both size and color. The lowest purchase intention was
shown when the product was only being referred to as ‘small’, a size modifier. It seems to be
more effective when a size modifier is combined with a color modifier for overspecification of
the product description. In this way, the findings in this study show that different modifiers
have different effects on the perception of children (Koolen, 2013). In sum, the effects are the
strongest when both color and size are combined in an overspecified referring expression.
However, we suggest that this is only the case when ‘large’ is used as a size modifier since
the size modifier ‘small’ is shown to be not that effective in overspecified language. A simple
reason might be that children are more likely to want a product when it is called ‘large’ then
when it called a ‘small’ product since ‘large’ could be more persuasive when it comes to
advertised products. This supports our intuition that children are sensitive to size when it
comes to the persuasiveness considering toys.
Interestingly, the noticeable trend that the combination of ‘large’ and ‘color’ is more
effective in overspecified language than the overspecified modifier ‘small’, only applies to two
specific items of purchase intention of children. However, the trend is not present in the
following item that also represents the purchase intention of children: ‘I want to pick it up in
the store immediately’. Although this paper shows that the purchase intention scale, including
35
three items, has a high reliability (Van Wijk 2000, p. 215-221) this specific trend shows
otherwise.
6.2
Limitations and future research
The current study may have some limitations affecting the results. Firstly, in an experiment
we deal with an artificial situation, as often is the case when we design experiments to
investigate phenomena in the research field. Therefore, the extent to which the results can
be generalized to realistic (natural) situations is not always clear. However, in this experiment
we aimed to design an advertisement as realistic as possible.
Secondly, the results of the pilot should have been analysed more in detail before
creating the current experiment. As already described, the interest levels of the products in
this study were created based on pilot findings investigating the persuasiveness of
advertisements. This pilot showed a trend indicating that overspecification would influence
the purchase intention less when the children were highly interested in the advertised
product. It is however likely that this trend, more specific the lower effect of overspecification
expected in case of higher interest compared to lower interest, is too weak; it might even be
based on a simple coincidence. This possible limitation might explain the findings of the
current study not showing interaction between interest level and overspecification. Even
though in design the interest levels were well created by performing a pre-test, they seemed
not to be an adequate predictor of the effect of overspecification on purchase intention.
Thirdly, a few aspects of the advertisements in this experiment were not designed
properly. For example, we expected that the audio presentation mode was the most
persuasive due to the peripheral cues, overspecified modifiers, that should influence the
purchase intention of the children. However, the lack of findings in this direction can be
caused by a too simple (modifier and target referent) and too concise product description. In
this way, it is possible that the message was not perceived well as a way to persuade, but
rather as too weak for that purpose. Next experiments should include more complex
messages, such as texts used for commercials, to ensure that the participant is perceiving
the message as a way to persuade. In addition, to improve the message sent to the listener,
future experiments should ensure that there are multiple target objects in a trial. It may be
that it was difficult for the children to interpret the referring expression, since there was just
one toy available for them. In this way, for children it may be hard to interpret the size of the
target object not being able to compare it with another object. Furthermore, it could be that
36
the image of the toy (product) distracted the children from the overspecified modifiers in the
advertisement.
Fourthly, there was too little data available in this study. Even though a main effect of
type of referring expression on the purchase intention was found, there were no differences
shown in the post-hoc analysis, due to a lack of data forcing us to reject hypothesis 3. This
implies that the purchase intention of nine-year-olds was not higher when overspecified
modifiers (color and size) were used in the product description. However, the post-hoc
analysis showed a trend in the differences between the type of referring expressions. To
better understand the effects of overspecification on the purchase intention of nine-year-olds,
next experiments should ensure a sufficient number of available data (Van Wijk, 2000). To
achieve more data a good preparation of the experiment is necessary. As discussed before,
more available data might lead to differences in purchase intention regarding the type of
referring expression.
Finally, although the number of data achieved in this experiment seemed to be
insufficient, we found an interesting trend that needs further investigation. To find out
whether there are actual differences between the referring expressions including the size
modifier ‘small’ and the referring expressions including the modifiers ‘large’ and ’color’, future
research needs to perform a new experiment. To be able to perform adequate research to
investigate the trend observed, future research should include referring expressions with
both size and color modifiers. The color modifier seems to be effective in persuasion
(Koolen, 2013). Especially when the modifier is combined with the size modifier ‘large’, this
combination is stronger than a referring expression including ‘small’ as a size modifier.
Although there seems to be a clear difference between the size modifiers ‘large’ and ‘small’,
this needs further investigation.
Although the results in this paper show that overspecified language did not directly affect
the purchase intention of nine-year-old children, overspecification is still an interesting topic
for the linguistic research field.
37
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40
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I: CONSENT FORMS (DUTCH)

Appendix 1.1: ‘Basisschool St. Martinus’
Geachte ouder(s)/verzorger(s),
De Universiteit van Tilburg werkt momenteel aan een onderzoeksproject naar
taalontwikkeling van kinderen. Door te onderzoeken hoe kinderen taal en informatie
verwerken, kunnen we vaststellen hoe kinderen zich in dit opzicht ontwikkelen naarmate ze
ouder worden. Op die manier kunnen we bijdragen aan de ontwikkeling van nieuwe
lesmethoden.
Basisschool St. Martinus heeft besloten om mee te werken aan ons onderzoek met
leerlingen in de leeftijd van 9 jaar. Voor het onderzoek krijgt uw kind een aantal afbeeldingen
te zien, waarna uw kind mag aangeven hoe leuk de afbeelding is. Er zijn daarbij geen goede
of foute antwoorden mogelijk. Onze ervaring op andere scholen heeft geleerd dat kinderen
het erg leuk vinden om mee te doen.
Het onderzoek is volledig anoniem en er worden geen geluids- of filmopnamen gemaakt. Als
uw kind deelneemt is hij/zij maximaal 10 minuten uit de klas.
Wij zullen in week 25 naar basisschool St. Martinus komen. Uiteraard willen wij er zeker van
zijn dat u instemt om uw kind mee te laten werken aan ons onderzoek, vandaar deze brief.
Wilt u onderstaand strookje invullen en uiterlijk 5 juni inleveren bij de leerkracht van
uw kind?
Als u verdere vragen heeft kunt u contact met mij opnemen via onderstaand e-mailadres of
telefoonnummer.
Bij voorbaat dank.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Floor Ceelen (Universiteit van Tilburg)

Ik geef toestemming…
… om mijn kind op school deel te laten nemen aan het hierboven beschreven onderzoek.
 JA
 NEE
Datum: ……-……-………..
Naam kind: ……………………………………………………….
Handtekening van een van de ouders/verzorgers
41

Appendix 1.2: ‘Basisschool Het Dal’
Geachte ouder(s)/verzorger(s),
De Universiteit van Tilburg werkt momenteel aan een onderzoeksproject
naar taalontwikkeling van kinderen. Door te onderzoeken hoe kinderen taal en informatie
verwerken, kunnen we vaststellen hoe kinderen zich in dit opzicht ontwikkelen naarmate ze
ouder worden. Op die manier kunnen we bijdragen aan de ontwikkeling van nieuwe
lesmethoden.
Basisschool Het Dal heeft besloten om mee te werken aan ons onderzoek met leerlingen in
de leeftijd van 9 jaar. Voor het onderzoek krijgt uw kind een aantal afbeeldingen te zien,
waarna uw kind mag aangeven hoe leuk de afbeelding is. Er zijn daarbij geen goede of foute
antwoorden mogelijk. Onze ervaring op andere scholen heeft geleerd dat kinderen het erg
leuk vinden om mee te doen.
Het onderzoek is volledig anoniem en er worden geen geluids- of filmopnamen gemaakt. Als
uw kind deelneemt is hij/zij maximaal 10 minuten uit de klas.
Wij zullen in week 24 of 25 naar basisschool Het Dal komen. Uiteraard willen wij er zeker van
zijn dat u instemt om uw kind mee te laten werken aan ons onderzoek, vandaar deze brief.
Wilt u onderstaand strookje invullen en uiterlijk 27 mei inleveren bij de leerkracht van
uw kind?
Als u verdere vragen heeft kunt u contact met mij opnemen via onderstaand e-mailadres of
telefoonnummer.
Bij voorbaat dank.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Floor Ceelen (Universiteit van Tilburg)

Ik geef toestemming…
… om mijn kind op school deel te laten nemen aan het hierboven beschreven onderzoek.
 JA
 NEE
Datum: ……-……-………..
Naam kind: ……………………………………………………….
Handtekening van een van de ouders/verzorgers
42

Appendix 1.3: ‘Bredeschool Moesel’
Geachte ouder(s)/verzorger(s),
De Universiteit van Tilburg werkt momenteel aan een onderzoeksproject naar
taalontwikkeling van kinderen. Door te onderzoeken hoe kinderen taal en informatie
verwerken, kunnen we vaststellen hoe kinderen zich in dit opzicht ontwikkelen naarmate ze
ouder worden. Op die manier kunnen we bijdragen aan de ontwikkeling van nieuwe
lesmethoden.
Brede School Moesel heeft besloten om mee te werken aan ons onderzoek met leerlingen in
de leeftijd van 9 jaar. Voor het onderzoek krijgt uw kind een aantal afbeeldingen te zien,
waarna uw kind mag aangeven hoe leuk de afbeelding is. Er zijn daarbij geen goede of foute
antwoorden mogelijk. Onze ervaring op andere scholen heeft geleerd dat kinderen het erg
leuk vinden om mee te doen.
Het onderzoek is volledig anoniem en er worden geen geluids- of filmopnamen gemaakt. Als
uw kind deelneemt is hij/zij maximaal 10 minuten uit de klas.
Wij zullen in week 24 of 25 naar Brede School Moesel komen. Uiteraard willen wij er zeker
van zijn dat u instemt om uw kind mee te laten werken aan ons onderzoek, vandaar deze
brief. Wilt u onderstaand strookje invullen en uiterlijk 27 mei inleveren bij de leerkracht
van uw kind?
Als u verdere vragen heeft kunt u contact met mij opnemen via onderstaand e-mailadres of
telefoonnummer.
Bij voorbaat dank.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Floor Ceelen (Universiteit van Tilburg)

Ik geef toestemming…
… om mijn kind op school deel te laten nemen aan het hierboven beschreven onderzoek.
 JA
 NEE
Datum: ……-……-………..
Naam kind: ……………………………………………………….
Handtekening van een van de ouders/verzorgers
43
APPENDIX II: PRODUCT IMAGES PRE-TEST
1.Skateboard
2.Microscope
3.Jumping rope
4.Camera
5.Kart
6.Headphone
7.Stuffed animal
8.Air mattress
9.Ball
10.Telescope
11.Guitar
12.Tablet
44
13.Jojo
14.Trampoline
15.Helmet
16.Stressball
17.Basketball
18.Binocular
19.Nintendo
20.Game
21.Bubble blower
22.Furby
23.Float
24.Fart cushion
45
25.Joystick
26.Swing
27.Frisbee
28.Step
29.Table tennis bat
30.Puzzle game
46
APPENDIX III: MANIPULATIONS OF THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS (DUTCH)
Low interest level
Neutral interest level
High interest level
1.1)Jojo
5.1)Basketbal
9.1)Tablet
1.2)Kleine jojo
5.2)Kleine basketbal
9.2)Kleine tablet
1.3)Grote jojo
5.3)Grote basketbal
9.3)Grote tablet
1.4)Rode jojo
5.4)Oranje basketbal
9.4)Groene tablet
1.5)Kleine rode jojo
5.5)Kleine oranje basketbal
9.5)Kleine groene tablet
1.6)Grote rode jojo
5.6)Grote oranje basketbal
9.6)Grote groene tablet
2.1)Fietshelm
6.1)Furby
10.1)Trampoline
2.2)Kleine fietshelm
6.2)Kleine furby
10.2)Kleine trampoline
2.3)Grote fietshelm
6.3)Grote furby
10.3)Grote trampoline
2.4)Blauwe fietshelm
6.4)Gele furby
10.4)Paarse trampoline
2.5)Kleine blauwe fietshelm
6.5)Kleine gele furby
10.5)Kleine paarse trampoline
2.6)Grote blauwe fietshelm
6.6)Grote gele furby
10.6)Grote paarse trampoline
3.1)Verrekijker
7.1)Microscoop
11.1)Nintendo
3.2)Kleine verrekijker
7.2)Kleine microscoop
11.2)Kleine nintendo
3.3)Grote verrekijker
7.3)Grote microscoop
11.3)Grote nintendo
3.4)Groene verrekijker
7.4)Paarse microscoop
11.4)Rode nintendo
3.5)Kleine groene verrekijker
7.5)Kleine paarse microscoop
11.5)Kleine rode nintendo
3.6)Grote groene verrekijker
7.6)Grote paarse microscoop
11.6)Grote rode nintendo
4.1)Bellenblaas
8.1)Knuffel
12.1)Schommel
4.2)Kleine bellenblaas
8.2)Kleine knuffel
12.2)Kleine schommel
4.3)Grote bellenblaas
8.3)Grote knuffel
12.3)Grote schommel
4.4)Blauwe bellenblaas
8.4)Rode knuffel
12.4)Blauwe schommel
4.5)Kleine blauwe bellenblaas
8.5)Kleine rode knuffel
12.5)Kleine blauwe schommel
4.6)Grote blauwe bellenblaas
8.6)Grote rode knuffel
12.6)Grote blauwe schommel
47
APPENDIX IV: DUTCH EXAMPLES OF THE TRIALS

Appendix 4.1: type of referring expression ‘noun’
Tablet
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online

Appendix 4.2: type of referring expression ‘noun’ + ‘large’
Grote tablet
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online
48

Appendix 4.3: type of referring expression ‘noun’ + ‘small’
Kleine tablet
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online

Appendix 4.4: type of referring expression ‘noun’ + ‘color’
Groene tablet
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online
49

Appendix 4.5: type of referring expression ‘noun’ + ‘large’ + ‘color’
Grote groene tablet
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online

Appendix 4.6: type of referring expression ‘noun’ + ‘small’ + ‘color’
Kleine groene tablet
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online
50
APPENDIX V: QUESTIONNAIRE (DUTCH)
 Appendix 5.1: questionnaire order (1)
1.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
51
7.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
12.
A)Dat wil ik graag hebben
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
52

Appendix 5.2: questionnaire order (2)
1.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
53
7.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
12.
A)Dat wil ik meteen gaan halen in de winkel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B)Dat wil ik graag hebben.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C)Dat wil ik voor mijn verjaardag krijgen.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
54
APPENDIX VI: RANDOMIZED ORDERS
 Appendix 6.1: randomized type of referring expression (RE) order

o RE 2
(noun + large)
o RE 6
(noun + small + color)
o RE 4
(noun + color)
o RE 3
(noun + small)
o RE 1
(noun)
o RE 5
(noun + large + color)
o RE 2
(noun + large)
o RE 6
(noun + small + color)
o RE 4
(noun + color)
o RE 3
(noun + small)
o RE 1
(noun)
o RE 5
(noun + large + color)
Appendix 6.2: randomized product type orders
Order (1):
Order (2):
o Product 6
(furby)
o Product 9
(tablet)
o Product 2
(helmet)
o Product 4
(bubble blower)
o Product 11 (nintendo)
o Product 8
(stuffed animal)
o Product 3
(binocular)
o Product 10 (trampoline)
o Product 5
(basketball)
o Product 1
o Product 7
(microscope)
o Product 12 (swing)
(jojo)
o Product 12 (swing)
o Product 7
(microscope)
o Product 1
o Product 5
(basketball)
o Product 10 (trampoline)
o Product 3
(binocular)
o Product 8
(stuffed animal)
o Product 11 (nintendo)
o Product 4
(bubble blower)
o Product 2
(helmet)
o Product 9
(tablet)
o Product 6
(furby)
(jojo)
55
APPENDIX VII: STIMULI DISTRIBUTION
E
O
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9
T10
T11
T12
1
1
6.2
2.6
11.4
3.3
5.1
7.5
12.2
1.6
10.4
8.3
4.1
9.5
2
1
6.3
2.1
11.5
3.4
5.2
7.6
12.3
1.1
10.5
8.4
4.2
9.6
3
1
6.4
2.2
11.6
3.5
5.3
7.1
12.4
1.2
10.6
8.5
4.3
9.1
4
1
6.5
2.3
11.1
3.6
5.4
7.2
12.5
1.3
10.1
8.6
4.4
9.2
5
1
6.6
2.4
11.2
3.1
5.5
7.3
12.6
1.4
10.2
8.1
4.5
9.3
6
1
6.1
2.5
11.3
3.2
5.6
7.4
12.1
1.5
10.3
8.2
4.6
9.4
7
1
6.2
2.6
11.4
3.3
5.1
7.5
12.2
1.6
10.4
8.3
4.1
9.5
8
1
6.3
2.1
11.5
3.4
5.2
7.6
12.3
1.1
10.5
8.4
4.2
9.6
9
1
6.4
2.2
11.6
3.5
5.3
7.1
12.4
1.2
10.6
8.5
4.3
9.1
10
1
6.5
2.3
11.1
3.6
5.4
7.2
12.5
1.3
10.1
8.6
4.4
9.2
11
1
6.6
2.4
11.2
3.1
5.5
7.3
12.6
1.4
10.2
8.1
4.5
9.3
12
1
6.1
2.5
11.3
3.2
5.6
7.4
12.1
1.5
10.3
8.2
4.6
9.4
13
2
9.5
4.1
8.3
10.4
1.6
12.2
7.5
5.1
3.3
11.4
2.6
6.2
14
2
9.6
4.2
8.4
10.5
1.1
12.3
7.6
5.2
3.4
11.5
2.1
6.3
15
2
9.1
4.3
8.5
10.6
1.2
12.4
7.1
5.3
3.5
11.6
2.2
6.4
16
2
9.2
4.4
8.6
10.1
1.3
12.5
7.2
5.4
3.6
11.1
2.3
6.5
17
2
9.3
4.5
8.1
10.2
1.4
12.6
7.3
5.5
3.1
11.2
2.4
6.6
18
2
9.4
4.6
8.2
10.3
1.5
12.1
7.4
5.6
3.2
11.3
2.5
6.1
19
2
9.5
4.1
8.3
10.4
1.6
12.2
7.5
5.1
3.3
11.4
2.6
6.2
20
2
9.6
4.2
8.4
10.5
1.1
12.3
7.6
5.2
3.4
11.5
2.1
6.3
21
2
9.1
4.3
8.5
10.6
1.2
12.4
7.1
5.3
3.5
11.6
2.2
6.4
22
2
9.2
4.4
8.6
10.1
1.3
12.5
7.2
5.4
3.6
11.1
2.3
6.5
23
2
9.3
4.5
8.1
10.2
1.4
12.6
7.3
5.5
3.1
11.2
2.4
6.6
24
2
9.4
4.6
8.2
10.3
1.5
12.1
7.4
5.6
3.2
11.3
2.5
6.1
E = experiment
O = order
56
T = trial
APPENDIX VIII: INSTRUCTION SCRIPTS (DUTCH)
 Appendix 8.1: script text presentation mode
Leuk dat je er bent!
Je ziet zo een paar plaatjes van speelgoed en als je naar de plaatjes kijkt, staat er
ook steeds bij wat voor speelgoed je op dat plaatje ziet.
Het is dus belangrijk dat je goed naar het plaatje kijkt en leest wat er onder het
plaatje staat. Hiervoor heb je een aantal seconden de tijd, want dan gaat het plaatje
weg. Daarna mag je een paar vragen beantwoorden over wat je gelezen hebt bij het
plaatje. Daarvoor gebruik je het antwoordvel dat voor je klaar ligt.
De vragen ga je dan beantwoorden door één van de 10 cijfers te omcirkelen die op je
antwoordvel staan. Als ik aan jou vraag: ‘wat vind je van de les vandaag?’, dan kies
je een 10 als je de les super leuk vindt of je kiest bijvoorbeeld een 1 als je de les
vandaag helemaal niet leuk vindt. Dit gaan we nu een keertje oefenen samen.
Bij het kiezen van een cijfer kun je geen slecht antwoord geven. Alle antwoorden zijn
goed vandaag! Je kunt dus niet beter of slechter zijn dan de andere kinderen die
meedoen.
Je hoeft zelf niets met de laptop te doen, want deze zal ik besturen. Het enige wat jij
hoeft te doen is bij iedere vraag een cijfer te omcirkelen wanneer je een vraag
gelezen hebt.
We gaan eerst oefenen met een plaatje voordat we echt beginnen. Dan kun je nog
vragen stellen als je iets niet snapt.
57

Appendix 8.2: script audio presentation mode
Leuk dat je er bent!
Je ziet zo een paar plaatjes van speelgoed en als je naar de plaatjes kijkt, hoor je
ook iemand vertellen wat voor speelgoed het is.
Het is dus belangrijk dat je goed naar het plaatje kijkt en dat je goed luistert naar wat
er wordt verteld. Hiervoor heb je een aantal seconden de tijd, want dan gaat het
plaatje weg. Daarna mag je een paar vragen beantwoorden over wat je gehoord hebt
bij het plaatje. Daarvoor gebruik je het antwoordvel dat voor je klaar ligt.
De vragen ga je dan beantwoorden door één van de 10 cijfers te omcirkelen die op je
antwoordvel staan. Als ik aan jou vraag: ‘wat vind je van de les vandaag?’, dan kies
je een 10 als je de les super leuk vindt of je kiest bijvoorbeeld een 1 als je de les
vandaag helemaal niet leuk vindt. Dit gaan we nu een keertje oefenen samen.
Bij het kiezen van een cijfer kun je geen slecht antwoord geven. Alle antwoorden zijn
goed vandaag! Je kunt dus niet beter of slechter zijn dan de andere kinderen die
meedoen.
Je hoeft zelf niets met de laptop te doen, want deze zal ik besturen. Het enige wat jij
hoeft te doen is bij iedere vraag een cijfer te omcirkelen wanneer je een vraag
gelezen hebt.
We gaan eerst oefenen met een plaatje voordat we echt beginnen. Dan kun je nog
vragen stellen als je iets niet snapt.
58

Appendix 8.3: script text/audio presentation mode
Leuk dat je er bent!
Je ziet zo een paar plaatjes van speelgoed en als je naar de plaatjes kijkt, staat er
ook steeds bij wat voor speelgoed je op dat plaatje ziet en hoor je ook iemand
vertellen wat voor speelgoed het is.
Het is dus belangrijk dat je goed naar het plaatje kijkt en leest wat er onder het
plaatje staat, maar je moet ook goed luisteren naar wat er wordt verteld. Hiervoor
heb je een aantal seconden de tijd, want dan gaat het plaatje weg. Daarna mag je
een paar vragen beantwoorden over wat je gelezen en gehoord hebt bij het plaatje.
Daarvoor gebruik je het antwoordvel dat voor je klaar ligt.
De vragen ga je dan beantwoorden door één van de 10 cijfers te omcirkelen die op je
antwoordvel staan. Als ik aan jou vraag: ‘wat vind je van de les vandaag?’, dan kies
je een 10 als je de les super leuk vindt of je kiest bijvoorbeeld een 1 als je de les
vandaag helemaal niet leuk vindt. Dit gaan we nu een keertje oefenen samen.
Bij het kiezen van een cijfer kun je geen slecht antwoord geven. Alle antwoorden zijn
goed vandaag! Je kunt dus niet beter of slechter zijn dan de andere kinderen die
meedoen.
Je hoeft zelf niets met de laptop te doen, want deze zal ik besturen. Het enige wat jij
hoeft te doen is bij iedere vraag een cijfer te omcirkelen wanneer je een vraag
gelezen hebt.
We gaan eerst oefenen met een plaatje voordat we echt beginnen. Dan kun je nog
vragen stellen als je iets niet snapt.
59
APPENDIX IX: PRACTICE TRIAL

Appendix 9.1: Practice trial text and audio/text presentation mode
Kleine stressbal
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online

Appendix 9.2: Practice trial audio presentation mode
Leeftijd: 8-11 jaar
koop je product in de winkel of bestel online
60