Linda Coates

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Papers by Linda Coates

Listeners as co-narrators

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000

A collaborative theory of narrative story-telling was tested in two experiments that examined wha... more A collaborative theory of narrative story-telling was tested in two experiments that examined what listeners do and their effect on the narrator. In 63 unacquainted dyads (81 women and 45 men), a narrator told his or her own close-call story. The listeners made 2 different kinds of listener responses: Generic responses included nodding and vocalizations such as &quot;mhm.&quot; Specific responses, such as wincing or exclaiming, were tightly connected to (and served to illustrate) what the narrator was saying at the moment. In experimental conditions that distracted listeners from the narrative content, listeners made fewer responses, especially specific ones, and the narrators also told their stories significantly less well, particularly at what should have been the dramatic ending. Thus, listeners were co-narrators both through their own specific responses, which helped illustrate the story, and in their apparent effect on the narrator&#39;s performance. The results demonstrate the importance of moment-by-moment collaboration in face-to-face dialogue.

Discourse analysis of sexual assault trial judgements: causal attributions and sentencing

In this dissertation, I examined the construction, function, and consequences of causal attributi... more In this dissertation, I examined the construction, function, and consequences of causal attributions in all British Columbia sexual assault trial judgements available through Quicklaw from 1986-1994. Most judgements contained causal attributions, that is, the judge discursively constructed an explanation of the assault. These attributions were analysable as internalizing versus externalizing (i.e., under the individual's control or not); situating or saturating (i.e., situated in a particular time and place versus abstracted and pervasive), and as violent or nonviolent (i.e., caused by a choice or tendency to be violent versus a choice or tendency to use alcohol, to be sexually inappropriate, etc.). The preponderance of attributions for persons guilty of sexual assault cast the cause as something other than violence. This suggests that, despite laws which defined sexual assault as violent per se, judges are not treating these offenses as violent. These attributions along with two other sets of factors (case parameters identified by Ruby, 1994, and V Moreover, the results suggest that the judges are not dealing with sexual assault and other sexualized offenses in the way that is consistent with the relevant legislative laws and sentencing principles. In particular, the legal system fails to protect children from those charged with their care and protection.

format_quoteInternalizing attributions correlate with higher sentences; breach of trust negatively affects sentencing in child assault cases.format_quote

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The Effect of the Patient's Social Class on the Doctor's Domineeringness in Doctor-Patient Communication

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Acomodando las palabras a los hechos Fitting words to deeds ANOMALOUS LANGUAGE IN SEXUAL ASSAULT 1 TRIAL JUDGEMENTS

Un hombre entró a una pieza donde una mujer estaba durmiendo y le metió su pene en la boca. En el... more Un hombre entró a una pieza donde una mujer estaba durmiendo y le metió su pene en la boca. En el dictámen final, esto se describió como 'el acto de ofrecer su pene'[2], En este artículo, investigamos el uso curioso de palabras tales como 'ofrecer' para describir un supuesto asalto sexual. Lenguage y texto son esenciales en la aplicación de la ley. Los dictámenes escritos expresan el estado de la ley en un momento dado, y afectan no sólo al demandante sino también el futuro cariz de la ley en particular, y de la sociedad en general. El lenguage usado en los dictámenes legales no es sólo un reflejo del pensamiento individual; es importante de por sí. En realidad, el lenguage peculiar usado por un juez surge de consejeros, testigos, dictámenes anteriores o del amplio estilo retórico social. Es este estilo (y nó los pensamientos, actitudes o motivaciones no expresados) lo que produce un impacto y que sirve de base para una acción. El lenguage afecta los hechos y crea ve...

format_quoteAnalysis of 12 judicial rulings revealed language that often equated sexual assault with consensual acts, altering meanings and implications.format_quote

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The Effect of the Patient's Social Class on the Doctor's Domineeringness in Doctor-Patient Communication

Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle, Dec 18, 1990

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Acomadando las Palabras a los Hechos / Fitting Words to Deeds

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Is it Sex or Assault? Erotic Versus Violent Language in Sexual Assault Trial Judgments

Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 2001

This research examined the language used to describe sexual offenses in 75 British Columbia trial... more This research examined the language used to describe sexual offenses in 75 British Columbia trial judgments. Since 1983 nonconsensual sexual contact is legally termed as "sexual assault" in Canada, so we tested whether the language in the judgments depicted sexual activity or assault. The most frequent characterization was in sexual (erotic or affectionate) language, which strongly implies mutuality and consent, whereas language depicting force, violence, or unilateral action was much less common-regardless of guilt or innocence, the nature of the charge, and the age of the complainant. We propose that sexualized descriptions minimize the inherent violence of sexual assaults and hide the survivors' experience.

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Beauty and the Beast: Misrepresentation and Social Responses in Fairy-Tale Romance and Redemption

International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2019

Violence perpetrated in romantic or intimate relationships is common, dangerous, chronic, and gen... more Violence perpetrated in romantic or intimate relationships is common, dangerous, chronic, and gendered: males tend to commit this violence against females. We critically analyze scenes from the beginning of the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast using the theory of response-based practice to show how the film uses misrepresentation and social responses to disappear violence and advance the narrative of a fairy-tale love story. In response-based practice, the actions of social responderspeople who respond to victims and perpetratorsare recognized as important for understanding the actions of the victims and perpetrators themselves. In this film, the servants are social responders and their actions are critical to the narrative of the film. We show how the servants actively use mutualization and misrepresentation to reformulate events, conceal the Beast's abusive or violent actions, and obfuscate his responsibility for those actions: the Beast is held responsible merely for being uncouth in difficult circumstances. Each misrepresentation and each social response join together to create a story that is understandable as romance and redemption. In doing so, the tale can be understood as supporting many myths about violence against women and girls in intimate relationships. The film produces and reproduces common misrepresentations of violent social interaction, perpetrator actions, victim resistance, and the violence itself.

format_quoteIntimate partner violence is prevalent from a young age, correlating with future assaults and increased suicide risk among adolescents.format_quote

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‘We’re in the 21st Century After All’: Analysis of Social Responses in Individual Support and Institutional Reform

Response Based Approaches to the Study of Interpersonal Violence, 2016

In the course of our research and clinical work in Response-Based Practice (Wade, 1997, 2000, 200... more In the course of our research and clinical work in Response-Based Practice (Wade, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2014;Coates, Todd and Wade, 2003; Todd and Wade, 2004; Coates and Wade, 2004, 2007, 2012)1, we routinely meet victims of violence who report receiving negative social responses from others. Often this takes the form of blame and misdiagnosis. The victim’s resistance to the violence is ignored and the victim’s responses are interpreted instead as ‘effects’ or ‘impacts’ and symptoms of disorders and deficits. When viewed in context, however, we find that victim responses — even responses of intense despair — become understandable as fitting and proportionate responses and as forms of resistance. By ‘context’ we mean the perpetrator’s actions, the specific situations in which those actions are committed, the social responses of social network and institutional actors (the focus of this chapter) and social and material conditions that are, or become, salient. Just as positive social responses can provide immense relief, negative social responses can incite further suffering, as in the case of Jenna, discussed here.

Gestures Specialized for Dialogue

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1995

A small group of hand gestures made during conversation (interactive gestures) seem to function s... more A small group of hand gestures made during conversation (interactive gestures) seem to function solely to assist the process of dialogue rather than to convey topical information. The rate of interactive gestures was significantly higher when 27 dyads talked in dialogue than in sequential monologues, whereas the rate of other (topical) gestures did not change; this difference supports the theory that interactive gestures are uniquely affected by the requirements of dialogue. A second, microanalytic study tested hypotheses about the specific functions of interactive gestures by examining the responses of the person to whom the gesture was addressed. Predictions were correct for 78 of 88 gestures sampled randomly from a large database. These results support the conclusion that interactive gestures are an important means by which speakers can include their addressees in the conversation. Moreover, these gestures demonstrate the importance of social (dialogic) processes in language use.

Listeners as co-narrators

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000

A collaborative theory of narrative story-telling was tested in two experiments that examined wha... more A collaborative theory of narrative story-telling was tested in two experiments that examined what listeners do and their effect on the narrator. In 63 unacquainted dyads (81 women and 45 men), a narrator told his or her own close-call story. The listeners made 2 different kinds of listener responses: Generic responses included nodding and vocalizations such as "mhm." Specific responses, such as wincing or exclaiming, were tightly connected to (and served to illustrate) what the narrator was saying at the moment. In experimental conditions that distracted listeners from the narrative content, listeners made fewer responses, especially specific ones, and the narrators also told their stories significantly less well, particularly at what should have been the dramatic ending. Thus, listeners were co-narrators both through their own specific responses, which helped illustrate the story, and in their apparent effect on the narrator's performance. The results demonstrate the importance of moment-by-moment collaboration in face-to-face dialogue.

format_quoteListeners in the counting condition narrated significantly poorer stories, showcasing the impact of listener engagement on storytelling quality.format_quote

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Causal Attributions in Sexual Assault Trial Judgments

Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 1997

This research examined naturally occurring causal attributions in sexual assault trial judgments ... more This research examined naturally occurring causal attributions in sexual assault trial judgments and their consequence (i.e., sentence). Causal attributions were reliably identified and analyzed for how they functioned in the narrative of the judgment. Whether the attributions discursively placed the cause within (internalizing attribution) or separate from the offender (externalizing attribution), described the cause as enduring and pervasive (saturating attribution) or as occurring within a particular context (situating attribution), and described the cause as owing to something violent (eg., a decision to be violent) or nonviolent (eg., being drunk). Results indicated that judges frequently made causal attributions, and the function of the attribution was significantly correlated with sentence (e.g., violent attributions were associated with higher sentence).

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Shifting terms: An interactional and discursive view of violence and resistance

Canadian Review of Social Policy/ …, 2003

... We contend that violence against individuals and groups is typically misrepresented in ways t... more

Langauge and Violence: Analysis of Four Discursive Operations

Journal of Family Violence, 2007

The Interactional and Discursive View of Violence and Resistance is a framework for critical anal... more The Interactional and Discursive View of Violence and Resistance is a framework for critical analysis and research, prevention and intervention that takes into account the conditions that enable personalized violence, the actions of perpetrators and victims, and the language used in representing those actions. Using this analytic framework, we analyzed five accounts of personalized violence, one each from a perpetrator, a psychiatrist, a judge, a government minister, and a therapist. Our results demonstrate the scope and the ubiquity with which diverse accounts locally accomplish four-discursive-operations; namely, the concealing of violence, obfuscating of perpetrators' responsibility, concealing of victims' resistance, and blaming and pathologizing of victims. We examine the specific linguistic devices that combine to accomplish the four-discursive-operations in each case. These data suggest that the problem of violence is inextricably linked to the problem of representation.

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Listener Responses as a Collaborative Process: The Role of Gaze

Journal of Communication, 2002

... The authors would also like to thank Sarah Hutchinson, Daniel Noel, and Christine Kenwood, th... more

Telling it Like it isn’t: Obscuring Perpetrator Responsibility for Violent Crime

Discourse & Society, 2004

Part I of this article introduces the interactional and discursive view of violence and resistanc... more Part I of this article introduces the interactional and discursive view of violence and resistance, part II illustrates its application to the analysis of sexual assault trial judgments, and part III provides a detailed analysis of an entire judgment. In giving their reasons for verdicts and sentences, the majority of judges accounted for the assaults by drawing on psychological concepts and constructs. These psychological explanations or causal attributions were grouped into one or more of eight categories: alcohol and drug abuse, biological or sexual drive, psychopathology, dysfunctional family upbringing, stress and trauma, character or personality trait, emotional state, and loss of control. The causal attributions in all categories systematically reformulated deliberate acts of violence into non-deliberate and non-violent acts. Psychologizing attributions, that is, causal attributions that functioned to conceal the violence and mitigate the perpetrator’s responsibility, account...

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