How to Convine the Column’s Reader to the Author? The Analysis of the Empirical Datas

Abstract

The article attempts to answer the question of what is responsible in the column text for attributing to the authors only positive or neutral image features. The basis is the analysis of the empirical data collected with the participation of respondents, who after reading the column stated the characteristics of the author – in their view – shown in the presented text, and then indicated fragments expressing each of the attributed image features. They read the utterances of Krzysztof Varga, Piotr Zaremba, Magdalena Środa and Szymon Hołownia. It is interpreted that although the influence of such a relatively positive perception of the columnists could be influenced by the research procedure itself, which limited the critical approach to the author (defining its characteristics directly after reading the text), it seems that the most important means of convincing to themselves was the discursive design of the text (generalizations, strongly vocabulary, humour with irony, common parlance) and reading the entire text, which could give an effect of understanding and respect for the author even in the absence of his views.