Effects of gaze and speech rate on receivers' evaluations of persuasive speech.

This study examined how gaze and speech rate affect perceptions of a speaker. Participants viewed a video recording of one of four persuasive messages delivered by a female speaker. Analysis of speech rate, gaze, and listener's sex revealed that when combined with a small amount of gaze, slow speech rate decreased trustworthiness as compared to a fast speech rate. For women, slow speech rate was thought to be indicative of less expertise as compared to a fast speech rate, again when combined with low gaze. There were no significant interactions, but there were main effects of gaze and speech rate on persuasiveness. High levels of gaze and slow speech rate each enhanced perceptions of the speaker's persuasiveness.