Exploration Versus Self-control: A Linguistic Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janak Judd
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Prevention Focus ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Written Descriptions

Research on regulatory focus has often used hopes versus duties to operationalize promotion and prevention focus, respectively. The current research examined regulatory focus in terms of exploration versus self-control to determine whether people tend to bring different types of experiences to mind when thinking about these experiences. I used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software to analyze written descriptions of exploration and self-control and used t-tests to examine between-condition differences on word categories that participants used at least 0.5% of the time. Across two studies, descriptions of exploration had more positive emotional tone and used more insight words. In contrast, descriptions of self-control used more function words, more negative emotion words, including anger, more words about ingestion, and more words about power.

Emotion Word Use by Adolescents Who Stutter: An Exploratory Study

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Corrin G. Richels ◽  
Rogge Jessica
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Word Use ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Emotion Word ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
Analyze Data

Purpose: Deficits in the ability to use emotion vocabulary may result in difficulties for adolescents who stutter (AWS) and may contribute to disfluencies and stuttering. In this project, we aimed to describe the emotion words used during conversational speech by AWS. Methods: Participants were 26 AWS between the ages of 12 years, 5 months and 15 years, 11 months-old (n=4 females, n=22 males). We drew personal narrative samples from the UCLASS database. We used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to analyze data samples for numbers of emotion words. Results: Results indicated that the AWS produced significantly higher numbers of emotion words with a positive valence. AWS tended to use the same few positive emotion words to the near exclusion of words with negative emotion valence. Conclusion: A lack of diversity in emotion vocabulary may make it difficult for AWS to engage in meaningful discourse about negative aspects of being a person who stutters

Suicidal Traits in Marilyn Monroe’s Fragments

Crisis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fernández-Cabana ◽  
A. García-Caballero ◽  
M. T. Alves-Pérez ◽  
M. J. García-García ◽  
R. Mateos
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Rank Correlation ◽  
First Person ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Spearman’S Rank Correlation ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Linguistic Categories

Background: Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC), a computerized method for text analysis, is often used to examine suicide writings in order to characterize the quantitative linguistic features of suicidal texts. Aims: To analyze texts compiled in Marilyn Monroe’s Fragments using LIWC, in order to explore the use of different linguistic categories in her narrative over the years. Method: Selected texts were grouped into four periods of similar word count and processed with LIWC. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to assess changes in language use across the documents over time. The Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to compare means between periods and for each of the 80 LIWC output scores. Results: Significant differences (p < .05) were found in 11 categories, the most relevant being a progressive decrease in the use of negative emotion words, a reduction in the use of long words in the third period, and an increase in the proportion of personal pronouns used as Monroe approached the time of her death. Conclusions: The consistently elevated usage of first-person personal singular pronouns and the consistently diminished usage of first-person personal plural pronouns are in line with previous studies linking this pattern with a low level of social integration, which has been related to suicide according to different theories.

scholarly journals Contents of hopes and duties: A linguistic inquiry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh Ann Vaughn
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Regulatory Fit ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Prevention Focus ◽  
Promotion Focus ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
A Current

People in a prevention focus tend to view their goals as duties and obligations, whereas people in a promotion focus tend to view their goals as hopes and aspirations. The current research suggests that people’s attention goes to somewhat different experiences when they describe their hopes versus duties. Two studies randomly assigned participants (N = 953) to describe a hope versus duty. Specifically, Study 1 asked participants to describe a personal experience of pursuing a hope versus duty, and Study 2 asked participants to describe a current hope versus duty they had. I analyzed these descriptions with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015. Consistent with earlier research on regulatory focus, participants wrote more about positive outcomes when describing hopes and social relationships when describing duties. The current research suggests that the effectiveness of common regulatory focus and regulatory fit manipulations could depend on participants’ freedom to choose the experiences they bring to mind when they describe their hopes and duties.

scholarly journals In an Absolute State: Elevated Use of Absolutist Words Is a Marker Specific to Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Al-Mosaiwi ◽  
Tom Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Cognitive Distortion ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Linguistic Level ◽  
Cognitive Therapies ◽  
Anxiety Depression

Absolutist thinking is considered a cognitive distortion by most cognitive therapies for anxiety and depression. Yet, there is little empirical evidence of its prevalence or specificity. Across three studies, we conducted a text analysis of 63 Internet forums (over 6,400 members) using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software to examine absolutism at the linguistic level. We predicted and found that anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation forums contained more absolutist words than control forums ( ds > 3.14). Suicidal ideation forums also contained more absolutist words than anxiety and depression forums ( ds > 1.71). We show that these differences are more reflective of absolutist thinking than psychological distress. It is interesting that absolutist words tracked the severity of affective disorder forums more faithfully than negative emotion words. Finally, we found elevated levels of absolutist words in depression recovery forums. This suggests that absolutist thinking may be a vulnerability factor.

Comparing Indicators of Suicidality Among Users in Different Types of Nonprofessional Suicide Message Boards

Crisis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Van den Nest ◽  
Benedikt Till ◽  
Thomas Niederkrotenthaler
Keyword(s):  
Social Desirability ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
German Language ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Message Boards ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Communicative Processes

Abstract. Background: Little is known about linguistic differences between nonprofessional suicide message boards that differ in regard to their predominant attitude to suicide. Aims: To compare linguistic indicators potentially related to suicidality between anti-suicide, neutral, and pro-suicide message boards, and between the types of posters (primary posters, who initiate the thread, and the respective respondents). Method: In all, 1,200 threads from seven German-language nonprofessional suicide message boards were analyzed using the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) with regard to wording related to suicidal fantasies, aggression, and indicators of so-called suicidal constriction. Data were analyzed with ANOVA. Results: There were fewer words related to affective, social, cognitive, and communicative processes in pro-suicide message boards than in other boards. Death-related wording and aggression as well as tentative wording appeared more prevalent in pro-suicide boards. Limitations: Complex language structures cannot be analyzed with LIWC. Conclusion: The results suggest fewer emotion words and wording related to social circumstances among primary posters and respondents in pro-suicide boards as compared with other boards, and a higher use of death- and aggression-related words. These findings might signal a higher degree of suicidality or sheer differences in matters of interest or social desirability. The differences require attention in practice and research.

The language of regulatory focus: Words used in descriptions of different promotion- and prevention-focused experiences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Burkins
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

In research exploring regulatory focus, promotion and prevention have often been operationalized as hopes and duties, respectively. More recently, research has begun to use exploration and self-control instead. The current research analyzed the differences in language used for promotion- and prevention-focused experiences, focusing on duties versus self-control, and hopes versus exploration. I examined the 81 categories of words that Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count provided, focusing on differences in word categories that are used at least 0.5% of the time. Consistent with expectations, descriptions of self-control included more words related to food, exercise, and emotions than descriptions of duties. As expected, descriptions of hopes included more words related to work and achievement than descriptions of exploration. Counter to predictions, exploration did not involve more words in the ingestion, leisure, or motion categories. Similarly, self-control did not involve more words related to sex or money. This research suggests that different operational definitions of regulatory focus could be appropriate to somewhat different domains of activity.

Exploration and self-control: Differences in regulatory focus and need support

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh Ann Vaughn ◽  
Patricia Burkins ◽  
Janak Judd
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Prevention Focus ◽  
Need Support

Exploration and effortful self-control are promotion and prevention-focused experiences. This research examined how exploration and self-control differ in support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and it compared them to experiences of pursuing hopes and duties, which are common ways to define promotion and prevention focus. It randomly assigned participants (N = 704) to describe a personal experience of exploration or self-control and rate their need support. Analyses compared need support between exploration and self-control conditions, and with the hopes, duties, and “your day yesterday” conditions (N = 867) of previously published data. Need support generally was higher in exploration than self-control. Relationships with the “yesterday” condition were similar to earlier findings on hopes versus duties. The differences in each type of need support between exploration and hopes, and between self-control and duties, were small. This research shows what could be typical need-support differences in episodes of promotion and prevention focus.

Ideology through sentiment analysis: A changing perspective on Russia and Islam in NYT

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Smirnova ◽  
Helena Laranetto ◽  
Nicholas Kolenda
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Media Study ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

This article continues the line of research that combines the paradigm of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with quantitative methods. We propose that Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a software for automated text analysis widely used in social sciences, can enrich the CDA toolkit. The methodological advantage of LIWC is that its semantic categorization was developed and validated independently, which addresses the concerns about subjectivity. In two case studies we use LIWC to analyze the construction and representation of the ‘Other’ in mass media. Study 1 focuses on the representation of Russia in The New York Times (NYT) before and after its annexation of Crimea; Study 2 analyzes the change in sentiment toward Islam in NYT before and after 9/11. We find that in both cases the change in attitude is driven by an increase in negative emotion words rather than by a decrease in positive words.

scholarly journals Identification of Emotional Expression With Cancer Survivors: Validation of Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count

10.2196/18246 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. e18246
Author(s):  
Michelle McDonnell ◽  
Jason Edward Owen ◽  
Erin O'Carroll Bantum
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Reference Group ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Psychological Constructs ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Emotional Identification

Background Given the high volume of text-based communication such as email, Facebook, Twitter, and additional web-based and mobile apps, there are unique opportunities to use text to better understand underlying psychological constructs such as emotion. Emotion recognition in text is critical to commercial enterprises (eg, understanding the valence of customer reviews) and to current and emerging clinical applications (eg, as markers of clinical progress and risk of suicide), and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) is a commonly used program. Objective Given the wide use of this program, the purpose of this study is to update previous validation results with two newer versions of LIWC. Methods Tests of proportions were conducted using the total number of emotion words identified by human coders for each emotional category as the reference group. In addition to tests of proportions, we calculated F scores to evaluate the accuracy of LIWC 2001, LIWC 2007, and LIWC 2015. Results Results indicate that LIWC 2001, LIWC 2007, and LIWC 2015 each demonstrate good sensitivity for identifying emotional expression, whereas LIWC 2007 and LIWC 2015 were significantly more sensitive than LIWC 2001 for identifying emotional expression and positive emotion; however, more recent versions of LIWC were also significantly more likely to overidentify emotional content than LIWC 2001. LIWC 2001 demonstrated significantly better precision (F score) for identifying overall emotion, negative emotion, and anxiety compared with LIWC 2007 and LIWC 2015. Conclusions Taken together, these results suggest that LIWC 2001 most accurately reflects the emotional identification of human coders.

scholarly journals Locked (Down) and Loaded (Language): Effect of Policy and Speech on COVID-19 Outcomes

2021 ◽  
pp. 154805182110124
Author(s):  
Alexa J. Doerr
Keyword(s):  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
The United States ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
One Year ◽  
Time Away ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
At Home

Just over one year after COVID-19 reached the United States, the number of confirmed cases exceeds 26 million. The Centers for Disease Control has consistently recommended frequent handwashing, avoiding crowds, wearing masks, and staying home as much as possible to prevent the spread of the virus. Additionally, 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico issued stay-at-home orders in the spring of 2020. Length of stay-at-home orders varied and states have also diverged on policies that mandate masks in public places. Through the lens of signaling theory and the emotion as social information model, the current research sheds light on how governors' differing policies and communication have influenced COVID-19 behavior and outcomes. Governor press briefings between January 7, 2020, and January 1, 2021, were run through the linguistic inquiry and word count software. Results indicated that states with longer stay-at-home orders and a stronger mask mandate reported fewer COVID-19 cases. Furthermore, negative emotion in governor press briefings was related to fewer cases and this relationship was mediated by individuals spending less time away from home for an extended period (3–6 h). Practical implications and guidance for future public health messaging, including messaging aimed at bolstering vaccination efforts, are discussed.

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