Psychological Aspects of Natural Language Use: Our Words, Our Selves

Annual Review of Psychology

Volumn 54, Issue , 2003, Pages 547-577

  Pennebaker, James W ^a   Mehl, Matthias R ^a   Niederhoffer, Kate G ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

Artificial intelligence; Discourse; LIWC; Particles; Pronouns; Text analysis

Indexed keywords

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE; EMOTION; HEALTH STATUS; HUMAN; HUMAN RELATION; INDIVIDUALITY; LINGUISTICS; MENTAL HEALTH; NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING; PERSONALITY; REVIEW; SEMANTICS; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT; VERBAL BEHAVIOR;

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE; EMOTIONS; HEALTH STATUS; HUMANS; INDIVIDUALITY; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; MENTAL HEALTH; NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING; PERSONALITY; PSYCHOLINGUISTICS; SEMANTICS; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT; VERBAL BEHAVIOR;

EID: 0042609977     PISSN: 00664308     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145041     Document Type: Review

References (132)

1. Acitelli L. 1992. You, me, and us: perspectives on relationship awareness. In Understanding Relationship Processes, Vol. 1. Individuals and Relationships, ed. S Duck, pp. 44-74. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
2. Ambady N, Koo J, Lee F, Rosenthal R. 1996. More than words: linguistic and nonlinguistic politeness in two cultures. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 70:996-1011
3. Atkinson JW, McClelland DC. 1948. The effect of different intensities of the hunger drive on thematic apperception. J. Exp. Psychol. 38:643-58
4. Berry DS, Pennebaker JW, Mueller JS, Hiller WS. 1997. Linguistic bases of social perception. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 23:526-37
5. Biber D. 1988. Variation Across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press
6. Bosson JK, Swann WB Jr, Pennebaker JW. 2000. Stalking the perfect measure of implicit self-esteem: the blind men and the elephant revisited? J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 79:631-43
7. Brown P, Fraser C. 1979. Speech as a marker of situation. See Sherer & Giles 1979, pp. 33-62
8. Brown P, Levinson SC. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press
9. Brown R. 1968. Words and Things: An Introduction to Language. New York: Free Press
10. Brown R, Gilman A. 1960. The pronouns of power and solidarity. See Sebeok 1960, pp. 253-76
11. Brown R, Gilman A. 1989. Politeness theory in Shakespeare's four major tragedies. Lang. Soc. 18:159-212
12. Bucci W. 1995. The power of the narrative: a multiple code account. In Emotion, Disclosure, and Health, ed. JW Pennebaker, pp. 93-122. Washington, DC: Am. Psychol. Assoc.
13. Bucci W, Freedman N. 1981. The language of depression. Bull. Menninger Clin. 45:334-58
14. Buchheim A, Mergenthaler E. 2000. The relationship among attachment representation, emotion-abstraction patterns, and narrative style: a computer-based text analysis of the Adult Attachment Interview. Psychother. Res. 10:390-407
15. Buller DB, Burgoon JK, Buslig A, Roiger J. 1996. Testing Interpersonal Deception Theory: the language of interpersonal deception. Commun. Theory 6:268-89
16. Campbell RS, Pennebaker JW. 2002. The secret life of pronouns: flexibility in writing style and physical health. Psychol. Sci. In press
17. Carver CS, Scheier MF. 1981. Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag
18. Cegala D. 1989. A study of selected linguistic components of involvement in interaction. West. J. Speech Commun. 53:311-26
19. Coupland N, Coupland J. 2001. Language, ageing, and ageism. See Robinson & Giles 2001, pp. 465-86
20. Danner DD, Snowdon DA, Friesen WV. 2001. Positive emotions in early life and longevity: findings from the Nun Study. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 80:804-13
21. Davis D, Brock TC. 1975. Use of first person pronouns as a function of increased objective self-awareness and performance feedback. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 11:389-400
22. Dulaney EF. 1982. Changes in language behavior as a function of veracity. Hum. Commun. Res. 9:75-82
23. Duval S, Wicklund RA. 1972. A Theory of Objective Self-Awareness. New York: Academic
24. Eckert P. 1999. Language Variation as Social Practice: The Linguistic Construction of Identity in Belten High. New York: Blackwell
25. Ellis D, Hamilton M. 1985. Syntactic and pragmatic code choice in interpersonal communication, Commun. Monogr. 52:264-78
26. Feldman Barrett L, Williams NL, Fong GT. 2002. Defensive verbal behavior assessment. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 28:776-88
27. Foltz PW, ed. 1998. Special issue: quantitative approaches to semantic knowledge representation. Discourse Process. 25:whole issue
28. Forgas J, ed. 1985. Language and Social Situations. New York: Springer
29. Freud S. 1901. Psychopathology of Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books
30. Furnham A. 1990. Language and personality. In Handbook of Language and Social Psychology, ed. H Giles, WP Robinson, pp. 73-95. New York: Wiley
31. Giles H, Coupland N. 1991. Language: Contexts and Consequences. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole
32. Gleser GC, Gottschalk LA, Watkins J. 1959. The relationship of sex and intelligence to choice of words: a normative study of verbal behavior. J. Clin. Psychol. 15:183-91
33. Goffman E. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday
34. Goffman E. 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. Garden City, NY: Anchor & Doubleday
35. Gortner EM, Pennebaker JW. 2002. The anatomy of a disaster: media coverage and community-wide health effects of the Texas A&M bonfire tragedy. J. Soc. Clin. Psychol. In press
36. Gottman J. 1994. Why Marriages Succeed or Fail. New York: Simon & Schuster
37. Gottschalk LA. 1997. The unobtrusive measurement of psychological states and traits. In Text Analysis for the Social Sciences: Methods for Drawing Statistical Inferences from Texts and Transcripts, ed. CW Roberts, pp. 117-29. Mahwah: Erlbaum
38. Grice HP. 1975. Logic and conversation. In Syntax and Semantics 3, ed. P Cole, J Morgan, pp. 41-58. New York: Academic
39. Haas A. 1979. Male and female spoken language differences: stereotypes and evidence. Psychol. Bull. 86:616-26
40. Hart RP. 1984. Verbal Style and the Presidency: A Computer-Based Analysis. New York: Academic
41. Hart RP. 2001. Redeveloping DICTION: theoretical considerations. See West 2001, pp. 43-60
42. Heckhausen H. 1963. Hoffnung und Furcht in der Leistungsmotivation. Meisenheim, Ger: Hain
43. Hofstee WKB. 1994. Who should own the definition of personality? Eur. J. Personal. 8:149-62
44. Hogenraad R, McKenzie DP, Morval J, Ducharme FA. 1995. Paper trails of psychology: the words that made applied behavioral sciences. J. Soc. Behav. Personal. 10:491-516
45. Hymes D. 1974. Foundations of Sociolinguistics: An Ethnographic Approach. Philadelphia: Univ. Penn. Press
46. Ickes W, Reidhead S, Patterson M. 1986. Machiavellianism and self-monitoring: as different as "me" and "you." Soc. Cogn. 4:58-74
47. James W. 1890. The Principles of Psychology. New York: Holt & Co.
48. Jamner LD, Schwartz GE, Leigh H. 1988. The relationship between repressive and defensive coping styles and monocyte, eosinophile, and serum glucose levels: support for the opioid peptide hypothesis of repression. Psychosom. Med. 50:567-75
49. Jay TB. 1980. Sex roles and dirty word usage: a review of the literature and a reply to Haas. Psychol. Bull. 88:614-21
50. Jeanneau M. 1991. Word pattern and psychological structure: empirical studies of words and expressions related to personality organization. PhD thesis. Dep. Applied Psychol., Umeå Univ., Sweden
51. Klein K, Boals A. 2001. Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. J. Exp. Psychol.: Gen. 130:520-33
52. Knapp ML, Comadena MA. 1979. Telling it like it isn't: a review of theory and research on deceptive communications. Hum. Commun. Res. 5:270-85
53. Knapp ML, Hart RP, Dennis HS. 1974. An exploration of deception as a communication construct. Hum. Commun. Res. 1:15-29
54. Krauss RM, Fussell SR. 1996. Social psychological models of interpersonal communication. In Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles, ed. ET Higgins, AW Kruglanski, pp. 655-701. New York: Guilford
55. Lacan J. 1968. The Language of the Self: The Function of Language in Psychoanalysis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press
56. Lakoff RT. 1975. Language and Woman's Place. New York: Harper & Row
57. Landauer TK, Dumais ST. 1997. A solution to Plato's problem: the latent semantic analysis theory of the acquisition, induction, and representation of knowledge. Psychol. Rev. 104:211-40
58. Lepore SJ, Smyth J. 2002. The Writing Cure. Washington, DC: Am. Psychol. Assoc.
59. Lorenz M, Cobb S. 1952. Language behavior in manic patients. Arch. Neur. Psych. 67:763-70
60. Maccoby EE. 1990. Gender and relationships: a developmental account. Am. Psychol. 45: 513-20
61. Martindale C. 1990. A Clockwork Muse: The Predictability of Artistic Change. New York: Basic
62. McCarthy D. 1929. A comparison of children's language in different situations and its relation to personality traits. J. Genet. Psychol. 36:583-91
63. Mehl MR, Pennebaker JW. 2002a. The Sounds of Social Life: A Psychometric Analysis of Students' Daily Social Environments and Natural Conversations. Submitted
64. Mehl MR, Pennebaker JW. 2002b. The Social Dynamics of a Cultural Upheaval: Everyday Social Life in the Aftermath of the September 11 Attack on America. In preparation
65. Mehl MR, Pennebaker JW, Crow MD, Dabbs J, Price JH. 2001. The electronically activated recorder (EAR): a device for sampling naturalistic daily activities and conversations. Behav. Res. Methods Instrum. Comput. 33:517-23
66. Mehrabian A. 1971. Nonverbal betrayal of feeling. J. Exp. Res. Personal. 5:64-73
67. Mendoza NA, Hosch HM, Ponder BJ, Carrillo V. 2000. Well...ah... hesitations and hedges as an influence on jurors' decisions. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 30:2610-21
68. Mergenthaler E. 1996. Emotion-abstraction patterns in verbatim protocols: a new way of describing psychotherapeutic processes. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 64:1306-15
69. Mergenthaler E, Bucci W. 1999. Linking verbal and non-verbal representations: computer-analysis of referential activity. Br. J. Med. Psychol. 72:339-54
70. Miller G. 1995. The Science of Words. New York: Sci. Am. Library
71. Morand DA. 2000. Language and power: an empirical analysis of linguistic strategies used in superior-subordinate communication. J. Organ. Behav. 21:235-48
72. Mulac A, Bradac JJ, Gibbons P. 2001. Empirical support for the gender-as-culture hypothesis: an intercultural analysis of male/female language differences. Hum. Commun. Res. 27:121-52
73. Mulac A, Lundell TL. 1994. Effects of gender-linked language differences in adult's written discourse: multivariate tests of language effects. Lang. Commun. 14:299-309
74. Mulac A, Studley LB, Blau S. 1990. The gender-linked language effect in primary and secondary students' impromptu essays. Sex Roles 23:439-69
75. Newman ML, Pennebaker JW, Berry DS, Richards JM. 2002. Lying words: predicting deception from linguistic styles. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. In press
76. Niederhoffer KG, Pennebaker JW. 2002. Linguistic synchrony in social interaction. J. Lang. Soc. Psychol. In press
77. Oxman TE, Rosenberg SD, Schnurr PP, Tucker GJ. 1988. Diagnostic classification through content analysis of patients' speech. Am. J. Psychiatry 145:464-68
78. Oxman TE, Rosenberg SD, Tucker GJ. 1982. The language of paranoia. Am. J. Psychiatry 139:275-82
79. Pennebaker JW, Beall SK. 1986. Confronting a traumatic event: toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 95:274-81
80. Pennebaker JW, Czajka JA, Cropanzano R, Richards BC, Brumbelow S, et al. 1990. Levels of thinking. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 16:743-57
81. Pennebaker JW, Francis ME. 1996. Cognitive, emotional, and language processes in disclosure. Cogn. Emot. 10:601-26
82. Pennebaker JW, Francis ME, Booth RJ. 2001. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC): LIWC 2001. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
83. Pennebaker JW, Graybeal A. 2001. Patterns of natural language use: disclosure, personality, and social integration. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 10:90-93
84. Pennebaker JW, King LA. 1999. Linguistic styles: language use as an individual difference. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 77:1296-312
85. Pennebaker JW, Lay TC. 2002. Language use and personality during crisis: analyses of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's press conferences. J. Res. Personal. 36:271-82
86. Pennebaker JW, Mayne TJ, Francis ME. 1997. Linguistic predictors of adaptive bereavement. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 72:863-71
87. Pennebaker JW, Stone LD. 2002. Words of Wisdom: Language Use Across the Lifespan. Submitted
88. Peterson C. 1992. Explanatory style. See Smith 1992, pp. 376-82
89. Peterson C, Seligman MEP, Vaillant GE. 1988. Pessimistic explanatory style is a risk factor for physical illness: a thirty-five-year longitudinal study. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 55:23-27
90. Petrie KP, Booth RJ, Pennebaker JW. 1999. The immunological effects of thought suppression. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 75:1264-72
91. Piaget J. 1926. The Language and Thought of the Child. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich
92. Popping R. 2000. Computer-Assisted Text Analysis. London: Sage
93. Ricoeur P. 1976. Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian Univ. Press
94. Rieber RW, Vetter HJ. 1995. The Psychopathology of Language and Cognition. New York: Plenum
95. Robinson WP, Giles H, eds. 2001. The New Handbook of Language and Social Psychology. Chichester, UK: Wiley
96. Rude SS, Gortner EM, Pennebaker JW. 2002. Language Use of Depressed and Depression-Vulnerable College Students. Submitted
97. Sanford FH. 1942. Speech and personality. Psychol. Bull. 39:811-45
98. Scheier MF, Carver CS. 1985. Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychol. 4:219-47
99. Scherer K. 1979. Personality markers in speech. See Sherer & Giles 1979, pp. 147-209
100. Scherwitz L, Canick J. 1988. Self reference and coronary heart disease risk. In Type A Behavior Pattern: Research, Theory, and Intervention, ed. K Houston, CR Snyder, pp. 146-67. New York: Wiley
101. Scherwitz L, Graham LE, Ornish D. 1985. Self-involvement and the risk factor for coronary heart disease, Advances 2:6-18
102. Schiffrin D. 1994. Approaches to Discourse. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell
103. Schnurr PP, Rosenberg SD, Oxman TE, Tucker GJ. 1986. A methodological note on content analysis: estimates of reliability. J. Personal. Assess. 50:601-9
104. Schütz A, Baumeister RF. 1999. The language of defense: linguistic patterns in narratives of transgression. J. Lang. Soc. Psychol. 18:269-86
105. Sebeok TA. 1960. Style and Language. Cambridge: MIT Press
106. Shapiro D. 1989. Psychotherapy of Neurotic Character. New York: Basic Books
107. Sherer KR, Giles H, eds. 1979. Social Markers in Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press
108. Sillars A, Shellen W, McIntosh A, Pomegranate M. 1997. Relational characteristics of language: elaboration and differentiation in marital conversations. West. J. Commun. 61:403-22
109. Smith CP, ed. 1992. Motivation and Personality: Handbook of Thematic Content Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univ. Press
110. Smyth JM. 1998. Written emotional expression: effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 66:174-84
111. Smyth JM, Stone AA, Hurewitz A, Kaell A. 1999. Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis. JAMA 281:1304-9
112. Spera SP, Buhrfeind ED, Pennebaker JW. 1994. Expressive writing and coping with job loss. Acad. Manag. J. 37:722-33
113. Stein NL, Folkman S, Trabasso T, Richards TA. 1997. Appraisal and goal processes as predictors of psychological well-being in bereaved caregivers. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 72:872-84
114. Stirman SW, Pennebaker JW. 2001. Word use in the poetry of suicidal and nonsuicidal poets. Psychosom. Med. 63:517-22
115. Stone LD, Pennebaker JW. 2002. Trauma in real time: Talking and avoiding online conversations about the death of Princess Diana. Basic Appl. Soc. Psychol. 24:172-82
116. Stone PJ, Dunphy DC, Smith MS, Ogilvie DM. 1966. The General Inquirer: A Computer Approach to Content Analysis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
117. Suedfeld P, Tetlock PE, Streufert S. 1992. Conceptual/integrative complexity. See Smith 1992, pp. 393-400
118. Tannen D. 1994. Gender Discourse. New York: Oxford Univ. Press
119. Thomson R, Murachver T, Green J. 2001. Where is the gender in gendered language? Psychol. Sci. 121:171-75
120. Tucker GJ, Rosenberg SD. 1975. Computer content analysis of schizophrenic speech: a preliminary report. Am. J. Psychiatry 132:611-16
121. Vaes J, Paladino M-P, Leyens J-P. 2002. The lost e-mail: prosocial reactions induced by uniquely human emotions. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. In press
122. Vorauer JD, Ross M. 1999. Self-awareness and feeling transparent: failing to suppress one's self. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 35:415-40
123. Vrij A. 2000. Detecting Lies and Deceit: The Psychology of Lying and the Implications for Professional Practice. Chichester, UK: Wiley
124. Weber RP. 1994. Basic Content Analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
125. Weintraub W. 1981. Verbal Behavior: Adaptation and Psychopathology. New York: Springer
126. Weintraub W. 1989, Verbal Behavior in Everyday Life. New York: Springer
127. West MD, ed. 2001. Theory, Method, and Practice in Computer Content Analysis. New York: Ablex
128. Wiener M, Mehrabian A. 1968. Language Within Language: Immediacy, a Channel in Verbal Communication. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts
129. Winter DG. 1973. The Power Motive. New York: Free Press
130. Winter DG. 1994. Manual for Scoring Motive Imagery in Running Text. Univ. Mich. 4th ed. Unpublished manuscript
131. Zeldow PB, McAdams DP. 1993. On the comparison of TAT and free speech techniques in personality assessment. J. Personal. Assess. 60:181-85
132. Zullow H, Oettingen G, Peterson C, Seligman MEP. 1988. Explanatory style and pessimism in the historical record: CAVing LBJ, presidential candidates, and East versus West Berlin. Am. Psychol. 43:673-82