Cover not available
Article published In:
Dialogues in Diachrony: Celebrating Historical Corpora of Speech-related Texts
Edited by Merja Kytö and Terry Walker
[Journal of Historical Pragmatics 19:2] 2018
► pp. 205–222

Impression management in the Early Modern English courtroom

| Manchester Metropolitan University

This paper draws upon three texts from the trial section of the Corpus of English Dialogues, in order to explore the tactical impression management strategies used by Early Modern English courtroom participants (defendants, judges, lawyers and witnesses). I will demonstrate that modern impression management strategies (identified with other activity types in mind) are in evidence in the texts, as are additional courtroom-specific strategies. I discuss the nuances of these impression management tactics, in light of (a) the obvious power differences between the participants involved, (b) the need to be perceived as credible in this legal setting, and (c) their convergence with particular types of face(work).

Keywords: courtroom strategies, credibility, face(work), impression management, self-presentation, seventeenth century
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The CED trials used in this study
  • 3.Tactical IM strategies, and their links with face(work)
    • 3.1An outline of defensive IM strategies
    • 3.2An outline of assertive IM strategies
  • 4.IM strategies in the CED Trial texts
    • 4.1Hewet, Lord President and Prideaux
    • 4.2Coleman and Scroggs
    • 4.3Dangerfield, Scroggs and Cellier
  • 5.IM and facework in the historical courtroom: A summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Corpora
  • References
Published online: 1 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.00019.arc
References

Corpora

A Corpus of English Dialogues 1560–1760
(CED) 2006 Compiled under the supervision of Merja Kytö (Uppsala University) and Jonathan Culpeper (Lancaster University).Google Scholar
2014 “Tracing (and Tagging!) Language Features in the Historical English Courtroom”. In Franca Poppi and Winnie Cheng (eds), The Three Waves of Globalization: Winds of Change in Professional, Institutional and Academic Genres, 2–22. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
2017 “Mapping Hansard Impression Management Strategies through Time and Space”. Studia Neophilologica 891, Supplement 1: 5–20. (Special Issue. Merja Kytö, Jeremy J. Smith and Irma Taavitsainen [eds], “Interfacing Individuality and Collaboration in English Language Research World”.) DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Benoit, William L.
1997 “Hugh Grant’s Image Restoration Discourse: An Actor Apologises”. Communication Quarterly 451: 251–267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berscheld, Ellen S. and Pamela C. Regan
2016 The Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope and Stephen C. Levinson
1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Charles, Mirjaliisa
1996 “Business Negotiations: Interdependence between Discourse and the Business Relationship”. English for Specific Purposes 15 (1): 9–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Connolly-Ahern, Colleen and Julio Cesar Herrero
2008 “Polices and Impression Management in Spanish Advertising”. In Lynda Lee Kaid (ed.), The EU Expansion: Communicating Shared Sovereignty in the Parliamentary Elections, 53–64. New York and Oxford: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Crane, Erin and Frederick G. Crane
2002 “Usage and Effectiveness of Impression Management Strategies in Organizational Settings”. Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama and Sociometry 551: 25–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DeLamater, John, Daniel Myer and Jessica Collet
2014 Social Psychology. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Delery, John and Michele K. Kacmar
1998 “The Influence of Applicant and Interviewer Characteristics on the Use of Impression Management”. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 281: 1649–1669. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Donahue, William A. and Deborah A. Cai
2014 “Interpersonal Conflict: An Overview”. In Nancy A. Burrell, Mike Allen, Barbara M. Gayle and Raymond W. Preiss (eds), Managing Interpersonal Conflict: Advances through Meta-Analysis, 22–41. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
DuBrin, Andrew J.
2010 Impression Management in the Workplace: Research, Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eder, Robert W. and Donald B. Fodor
2013 “Impression Management: Its Interpretative Role in the Supervisor-Employee Feedback Process”. In Robert A. Giacalone and Paul Rosenfeld (eds), Impression Management in the Organization, 327–340. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, Inc., Publishers.Google Scholar
Ellis, Aleksander P. J., Bradly J. West, Anne Marie Ryan and Richard P. DeShon
2002 “The Use of Impression Management Tactics in Structured Interviews: A Function of Question Type?” Journal of Applied Psychology 87 (6): 1200–1208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Felson, Richard B.
2012 “Patterns of Aggressive Social Interaction”. In Amélie Mummendey (ed.), Social Psychology of Aggresssion: From Individual Behavior to Social Interaction, 107–126. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Gass, Robert H. and John S. Seiter
2015 Persuasion: Social Influence and Compliance Gaining. (Fifth edition.) London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving
1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, New York: Anchor/Doubleday.Google Scholar
1967 Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face-to-Face Behavior. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
1971 Relations in Public. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Graham, Sandra and April Z. Taylor
2014 “An Attributional Approach to Emotional Life in the Classroom”. In Reinhard Pekrun and Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia (eds), International Handbook of Emotions in Education, 96–119. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Greene, Jody
2011 The Trouble with Ownership: Literary Property and Authorial Liability in England, 1660–1730. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Grice, H. Paul
1975 “Logic and Conversation”. In Peter Cole and Jerry L. Morgan (eds), Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, 41–58. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Grugulis, Irena
2002 “Nothing Serious? Candidates’ Use of Humour in Management Training”. Human Relations 55 (4): 387–406. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guerrero, Laura K., Peter A. Anderson and A. Afifi Walid
2010 Close Encounters: Communication in Relationships. (Third edition.) Los Angeles and London: Sage.Google Scholar
Harré, Rom and Fathali M. Moghaddam
2003 “Introduction: The Self and Others in Traditional Psychology and in Positioning Theory”. In Rom Harré and Fathali M. Moghaddam (eds), The Self and Others: Positioning Individuals and Groups in Personal, Political and Cultural Contexts, 1–11. Westport, Connecticut/London: Greenwood Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Holland, Rob W., Ree Meertens and Mark Van Vugt
2002 “Dissonance on the Road: Self-Esteem as a Moderator of Internal and External Self-Justification Strategies”. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 (12): 1713–1724. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holtgraves, Thomas M.
2013 Language as Social Action: Social Psychology and Language Use. New Jersey and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jones, Edward E.
1964 Ingratiation. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Koslowsky, Meni and Shani Pindek
2011 “Impression Management: Influencing Perceptions of Self”. In Derek Chadee (ed.), Theories in Social Psychology, 280–296. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Kryk-Kastovsky, Barbara
2010 “Power in Early Modern English Courtroom Discourse”. In Sanna-Kaisa Tanskanen, Marja-Liisa Helasvuo and Marjut Johansson (eds), Discourses in Interaction, 153–172. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leary, Mark R.
1996 Self-Presentation. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Leary, Mark R. and Robin M. Kowalski
1990 “Impression Management: A Literature Review and Two-Component Model”. Psychological Bulletin 107 (1): 34–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Locher, Miriam A. and Richard J. Watts
2008 “Relational Work and Impoliteness: Negotiating Norms of Linguistic Behaviour”. In Derek Bousfield and Miriam A. Locher (eds), Impoliteness in Language: Studies on Its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, 77–99. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Loveman, Kate
2006 “ ‘Eminent cheats’: Rogue Narratives in the Literature of the Exclusion Crisis”. In Jason McElligott (ed.), Fear, Exclusion and Revolution: Roger Morrice and Britain in the 1680s, 108–122, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar
O’Keefe, Daniel
2002 Persuasion: Theory and Research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.Google Scholar
Ralston, David A. and Priscilla M. Elsass
2013 “Ingratiation and Impression Management in the Organization”. In Robert A. Giacalone and Paul Rosenfield (eds), Impression Management in the Organization, 235–250. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Schlenker, Barry R.
1980 Impression Management. Monterey, California: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Schlenker, Barry R. and Micheal F. Weigold
1992 “Interpersonal Processes Involving Impression Regulation and Management”. Annual Review of Psychology 431: 133–168. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sheridan, Terry A.
2016 Managerial Fraud: Executive Impression Management, Beyond Red Flags. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sieber, Irmgard
2007 “Politicians’ Self-Presentational Tactics and Strategies Used on Television Talk Shows and Interviews”. In Jochen Mecke (ed.), Cultures of Lying: Theories and Practice of Lying in Society, Literature and Film, 205–216. Berlin and Wisconsin: Galda & Wilch.Google Scholar
Tedeshi, James T. and Valerie Melburg
1984 “Impression Management and Influence in the Organization”. In Samuel B. Bacharach and Edward J. Lawler (eds), Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 31–58. Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Hashmi, Umair Munir, Radzuwan Ab Rashid & Mohd Aftar Abu Bakar
2021. 2021 7th International Conference on Web Research (ICWR), ► pp. 130 ff. DOI logo
KAVUT, Sevgi
2021. KİŞİLERARASI İLETİŞİM IŞIĞINDA İZLENİM YÖNETİMİ VE İZLENİM YÖNETİMİ TAKTİKLERİ: UMUDUNU KAYBETME FİLMİ ÖRNEĞİ. İNİF E - Dergi DOI logo
Szabó, Éva
2021. Énmegjelenítési stratégiák egyetemisták körében. Jelentés és Nyelvhasználat 8:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Varga, Marianna
2020. The Role of Linguistic Impression Management: The Case of Hungarian Courtroom Discourses. Corpus Pragmatics 4:3 ► pp. 381 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.