Lee, K: Doubly Disembodied Language

This book examines social responses to synthesized speech in e-commerce contexts. Synthesized speech is defined as doubly disembodied language based on two types of disembodiments embedded within synthesized speech. Based on the results from a series of studies on doubly disembodied language, the author shows that doubly disembodied language is understood in the same way as disembodied language, which in turn is understood in the same way as face- to-face communication. With compelling analyses of divers data sets, the author concludes that automatic imagination of sources based on perceptual responses to voices and conscious imagination of sources based on cognitive instruction work independently for the mental construction of virtual speakers and persuasion. Theoretical as well as practical implications of the findings of the series of empirical studies reported in this book are discussed.