Flowing With the Syntax: The Influence of Taoism on Syntactic Priming Effects

Syntactic priming is a linguistic phenomenon where the exposure to a specific grammatical structure increases the likelihood that the same structure will be used in subsequent language production. Previous research has shown that these syntactic processes are influenced by a broad range of linguistic, cognitive, and social factors. In the present research, we focused on the role of religious systems in shaping syntactic priming in dialog. Based on the observation that the Taoist concept of “moving with flow” encourages individuals to adapt to the natural flow of life and circumstances, we hypothesized that Taoists might modify their syntactic choices to foster better connections with their interlocutors. We conducted two studies to test our theoretical perspective. As predicted, Study 1 found that Taoists were more likely to mirror the syntax used by their interlocutors in dialog than their atheist counterparts. In Study 2, we compared the magnitude of syntactic priming effects between Taoists and Buddhists. The results showed that Taoists demonstrated a stronger preference for using the same syntactic structure as their conversational partners than Buddhists. In sum, our findings provide the first empirical evidence that beliefs and values associated with religious systems exert a significant influence on syntactic priming effects.