In response to increasing societal divisions, an extensive literature has emerged examining the construct of receptiveness. This literature suggests that signaling receptiveness to others confers a variety of interpersonal benefits, such as increased persuasiveness. How do people signal their receptiveness to others? The current research investigates whether one of the most fundamental aspects of language—pronoun use—could shape perceptions of receptiveness. We find that in adversarial contexts, messages containing second-person pronouns (“you” pronouns) are perceived as less receptive than messages containing first-person plural pronouns (“we” pronouns). We demonstrate that “you” pronouns signal aggressiveness, which reduces perceived receptiveness. Moreover, we document that perceived receptiveness influences important downstream consequences such as persuasion, interest in future interaction, sharing intentions, and censorship likelihood. These findings contribute to a fast-growing literature on perceived receptiveness, uncover novel consequences of signaling receptiveness, and contribute to our understanding of how pronouns shape social perception.

为了应对日益严重的社会分歧，出现了大量研究接受性结构的文献。该文献表明，向他人发出接受的信号会带来多种人际效益，例如增强说服力。人们如何向他人表明自己的接受程度？当前的研究调查了语言最基本的方面之一——代词的使用——是否可以塑造对接受性的看法。我们发现，在对抗性环境中，包含第二人称代词（“你”代词）的消息被认为比包含第一人称复数代词（“我们”代词）的消息更容易接受。我们证明“你”代词表示攻击性，这会降低感知的接受度。此外，我们记录了感知的接受度会影响重要的下游后果，例如说服力、对未来互动的兴趣、分享意图和审查可能性。这些发现有助于关于感知接受性的快速增长的文献，揭示信号接受性的新后果，并有助于我们理解代词如何塑造社会感知。