Proof that oral communication is more powerful than text?

Study finds that audiences respond more favorably to a proposal read aloud than to one in print.

A speechwriter-friendly study finds: Spoken words are more powerful than written ones. A University of Chicago study reported on in The New York Times found differing audience reactions to the same proposal, delivered orally versus read in a transcript. The audience that heard the pitch rated the deliverer’s intellect more highly than did the one that read the transcript. The co-author, behavioral science professor Nicholas Epley, concludes that vocal cues “show that we are alive inside—thoughtful, active … Text strips that out."

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