The words people use in their daily writing and speaking has the potential to reveal a great deal about their personality, social situation, and psychological state. Using a recently-developed computer text analysis program, it is possible to distinguish people's linguistic styles from the content of their speech. Linguistic style can be discerned from a broad class of words called particles, which include pronouns, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs. A number of recent studies are presented that suggest that particle use in natural speech is highly reliable over time and can reflect individuals' honesty, depressive tendencies, age, sex, and cognitive processing abilities.
LANGUAGE AS A REFLECTION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE
THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF WORDS
THE POWER OF PARTICULAR PARTICLES: PRONOUNS
WORD USE AS A REFLECTION OF COGNITIVE PROCESSES
USING LANGUAGE TO IMPROVE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
RETHINKING THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL LIFE
A FINAL OBSERVATION: WORDS ARE IMPORTANT
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