Person Perception in Audience Decision Making 285Speakers who combine high status with a powerful speaking style are especially persuasive. Forexample, witnesses who have a high occupational status and who use a powerful speech style have
a greater infl uence on mock jurors than low-status witnesses who use a powerless speech style.^343
Similarly, in group discussions, group members are more persuaded by subject-matter experts who
combine high status with a powerful speech style.^344
The Likeability Bias: The Persuasive Appeal of Friendliness
Audiences are more likely to be biased toward and persuaded by likable professionals than by unlik-
able ones.^345 For example, more likable job candidates tend to be rated more highly by recruiters.^346
More likable employees tend to be rated more highly on performance appraisals by their supervi-
sors.^347 More likable surgeons are less likely to be sued by their patients for malpractice than their
equally skilled but less agreeable counterparts.^348 Much of the reason for the difference in their
patients’ reactions appears to be determined by the surgeon’s tone of voice.^349
In all walks of life, likable, friendly professionals tend to be more persuasive. For example,well-liked U.S. presidents are more effective in swaying public opinion than less-liked presidents.^350
In fact, less-liked presidents sometimes sway opinion in the opposite direction of the positions they
advocate.^351 Solicitors who fi rst give prospective donors a friendly handshake before requesting a
donation are more effective at raising money for charities than less friendly solicitors do not fi rst
shake hands.^352 Other friendly nonverbal behaviors displayed by donation solicitors such as smil-
ing^353 and eye contact^354 also produce more donations.
Audiences tend to like those who are expressive nonverbally more than those who are lessexpressive.^355 An audience’s rating of another’s likeability is highly infl uenced by nonverbal cues
such as smiling, hand gestures, body posture, and eye contact.^356 It comes as no surprise that job
applicants who smile more often in mock job interviews are rated as much more likable.^357
Studies of audiences considering a wide range of requests fi nd that increased compliance isassociated with increased requester likeability. And increased likeability, in turn, is associated with
increased gaze, conversational proximity, touch, open body orientation, smiling, nodding, and
gesturing.^358 Salespeople who use high levels of gaze and expressive body movements infl uence
customers more than salespeople who are less expressive^359 as do salespeople who display happy
versus negative emotions.^360 Gazing at listeners while making a request is an especially effective way
to increase their compliance.^361
However, there are some limits to the persuasive power of likeability. For example, expert audi-ences appear to be less biased by likeability than novices.^362 And a speaker’s likeability exerts greater
infl uence in video or audio recordings of their messages than in written transcripts of them.^363
The Similarity Bias: The Persuasive Appeal of Similarity
Audiences are more likely to be biased toward and persuaded by professionals they perceive to be
similar to themselves than by those they perceive to be dissimilar. For example, consumers who
perceive a salesperson as similar to themselves are more likely to make the purchases the salesperson
recommends.^364 Listeners who hear a speaker’s arguments spoken in their own regional dialect are
more likely to be persuaded by them than when they hear those same arguments are spoken in the
standard dialect.^365 A study of the effects of similar dress fi nds that well-dressed solicitors are more
successful in gaining compliance in airports where people are typically better dressed than in bus stops
where people are typically less well dressed. Conversely, casually dressed solicitors are more success-
ful at bus stops.^366 Audiences also tend to like others more when they perceive them to be similar
to themselves.^367