When people experience dissatisfaction or frustration, they often express their feelings through complaining. However, very little is known about everyday complaints. In order to understand how people make complaints, this project proposed a two-factor model of complaint expression, with the factors of certainty and emotional involvement. There were two primary goals for this project. First, this project examined how people make complaints with different expectations, particularly in language use. Second, this project explored whether listeners understand individuals' expectations behind complaints. Four major complaint expectations were identified by content analysis in the pilot study (N = 276). Computerized text analysis was used to examine the relationships between language markers and the four complaint expectations. The factor of certainty was assessed by personal pronoun use and certainty words, whereas the factor of emotional involvement was assessed by the use of negative emotion words. Study 1 (N = 272) used multiple-choice questions to measure complaint expectations and replicated the language findings from the pilot study. Study 2 (N = 247) manipulated complaint expectations by experimental instructions to investigate language usage. The results suggested weak associations between manipulated expectations and language use. Study 3 (N = 204) focused on listeners and examined if they could identify the accurate expectations behind complaints. The results confirmed previous findings about the overconfidence effect in social behavior. An additional analysis examined the accuracy rate of computerized detection methods and then compared the computer's performance to human judges' accuracy. The results showed that the accuracy rate from the computerized text analysis was around 25% to 30%. Human judges performed slightly better than computerized text analysis with a 30% to 35% of accuracy rate. This is one of the first research projects that has attempted to detect and recognize human intentions surrounding complaining using language modeling. / text

When a text in a foreign language is translated into English, many of the features of the original language disappear. The tools described in this paper can give people who work with translators and translations an insight into dimensions of a culture that may escape the notice of someone not familiar with the source language or culture. A set of computer programs are described that analyze both English and Arabic texts using each language's function word or closed-class words categories. First, the LIWC (Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007) text analysis program was translated into Arabic. Then, the grammatical dimensions of Arabic function words was determined that served as a basis for the Arabic LIWC designed for Arabic texts. These same Arabic dimensions were used to fit English words into the same categories. A large corpus of Modern Standard Arabic and English text files that have been translated in both directions were used to establish the equivalence of the translated word lists. Then, the uses and applications of the dictionaries for computer-based text analysis within and across cultures are described in the study of influence of gender on translation of TED talks between English and Arabic. Differences were identified in language style between men and women in their English language TED talks, and these features were examined whether they were faithfully maintained in translations to Arabic. The rates of function word use was employed to measure language style. Function words (e.g., pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions) appear at high rates in both English and in Arabic, and they have been shown to provide social, demographic, and psychological information about authors and speakers in English and a variety of other languages. The sample included 328 (196 male and 132 female) TED talks delivered in English from 2004 to 2010 and their translations to Arabic. Rates of function word use in the original and translated texts were examined using the English version of the word counting software. The function word use compared between male and female speakers, male and female translators, and their interaction. The results confirmed gender differences in language style for English texts found in previous studies in English. For example, women used more pronouns, more negatives, and fewer numbers than did men. It was further found that several of the distinguishing language style features between men and women in English disappeared in Arabic translations. Importantly, there was a significant gender difference in the language style of male and female translators: first person singular pronouns, second person pronouns, conjunctions, and prepositions were used more by female translators, and quantity words were used more by male translators, regardless of the gender of the original speaker. This study presents one application of computerized text analysis to examine differences in language style that may be lost or gained in translations. Future research and applications within personality, forensic, and literary psychology, linguistics, and foreign language studies are discussed. / text

The following research and subsequent study look at identity construction and intergroup differences during computer-mediated communication (CMC) across two platforms with varying degrees of anonymity: Twitter and Yik Yak. A review of research conducted mainly within the framework of the social identity model of deindividuation (SIDE) demonstrates that, counter to popular beliefs heralding the individual freedoms of anonymity, anonymous environments act to strengthen salient social identities and perpetuate group norms. In a medium with such variability and flexibility, drawing comparisons across platforms based solely on content can lead to error. In an attempt to circumvent this difficultly, a linguistics analysis of function words was conducted in each condition. Statistical tests point to changes in usage frequencies of i, impersonal pronouns, you, and they as distinctive between the individuating environment of Twitter and anonymous Yik Yak, while an almost identical underlying proportional framework seen in both platforms brings new context to understanding the role of societal norms in language construction.

Communal coping—a process in which romantic partners view a problem or stressor as "ours" rather than "yours" or "mine" and engage in collaborative problem solving to address it —has emerged as an important predictor of health and treatment outcomes. This study investigated communal coping as a theoretically derived and empirically supported intervention target within two couple-focused interventions for health problems: Family Systems Therapy for problematic alcohol use and Family Consultation for health-compromised smoking. With a combined sample of 56 couples (37 alcohol, 21 smoking), this study investigated within-session changes in communal coping—indexed via observable, communal coping behaviors and first-person plural pronoun use (we-talk)—prior to and following therapist implementation of specific solution-focused therapy techniques that aimed to promote communal coping in the couples during a target therapy session. Teams of trained raters observed the target therapy sessions and made independent ratings of couple communal coping behaviors and therapist adherence. Pronoun measures for each partner were obtained via computerized text analysis from transcripts of partners' speech during the target therapy sessions. Both patients and spouses showed increases in communal coping behavior and we-talk from a "baseline" problem-focused therapy block to the "active" solution-focused therapy block. In addition, exploratory analyses revealed that several couple and therapist characteristics, as well as specific solution-focused techniques were associated with within-session changes in communal coping. Findings from this study identify communal coping as a client change process and solution-focused therapy techniques as a therapist change process within the two interventions, and demonstrate successful engagement of communal coping as a therapeutic target.

The present study investigated whether participants with a high propensity for alcoholism demonstrate the same linguistic pattern previously established for depression in response to a personal essay. It was hypothesized that students with a higher propensity for alcoholism would display a similar linguistic style when compared to those with symptoms of depression; specifically students with a higher propensity for alcohol abuse or dependence would use more first person singular pronouns and less first person plural pronouns. They were also hypothesized to use more negative emotion words similar to those with symptoms of depression. Participants completed a writing exercise that was analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count software (Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007). The data was analyzed using Pearson Bivariate Correlations. The participants completed a writing exercise, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the Beck Depression Inventory, Marlowe-Crowne Short Form, and a short demographic survey, respectively. The correlation between s propensity for alcoholism and symptoms of depression was not significant and the linguistic patterns varied substantially from the hypotheses. Even though the hypotheses were not supported, there were significant correlations between propensity for alcoholism and linguistic choices. The potential for linguistic analysis to be developed into an indirect assessment of alcohol dependence is discussed as a way to minimize the difficulties surrounding self-report methods.

Student evaluations are often used by administrators to make important career decisions for professors such as offers of tenure, increase in salary or other monetary reward (see Frick, Chadha, Watson, & Zlatkovska, 2009). Research has consistently shown that helpfulness in its various operational definitions is one of the most important traits to students when evaluating a professor (For example Silva et al., 2008). Previous findings have demonstrated that inequalities exist among subjective student evaluation ratings of men and women, (see Bennet, 1982). The present study extended this research by manipulating the instruction styles (strict vs. permissive), as well as the gender of the instructor, in a hypothetical syllabus. Participants were randomly assigned to read 1 of 4 syllabi which varied only by instruction style and gender of the instructor. Subsequently, participants answered follow up questions on the content of the syllabus which emphasized the gender of the instructor. Evaluations were collected in the form of both Likert scale ratings and responses to open ended questions. The written evaluations were analyzed for emotional content using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Software (LIWC, Pennebaker, Francis, & Booth, 2007). A 2 (male vs. female) X 2 (strict vs. permissive) between subjects ANOVA was applied to the data collected. The results support the hypothesis that gender inequalities do exist, particularly when the professor was established as having a strict style of student interaction.

Previous research has produced heterogeneous findings regarding the effectiveness of expressive writing in reducing grief symptomatology among the bereaved (e.g., Collison, 2016; Lichtenthal & Cruess, 2010; Stroebe et al., 2006). The purpose of this study was to address these mixed results by exploring the effects and linguistic characteristics of a novel writing task (i.e., the acrostic poem) among bereaved undergraduates, using an innovative data analysis technique (i.e., Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count). The current study recruited 68 undergraduates who had lost a loved one. Participants were randomly assigned to write over multiple days using the acrostic poem, emotional disclosure prompt, or a control writing prompt. Consistent with previous research, the results indicated no significant differences in grief between conditions over time; however, there were key group differences in linguistic content. Further, while all participants endorsed improvements in grief one week following the intervention, the participants returned to baseline one month later. Patterns of writing, coping, religiosity/ spirituality, physical symptoms, and grief in bereaved emerging adults were also assessed. The results suggest that while expressive writing might not be an effective intervention for the bereaved, the content of writing might provide clinicians some insight on psychological and spiritual processes at play in bereaved emerging adults.

This study was designed to examine qualitative data regarding gender and age differences about significant life events that are recalled when music is remembered. Two groups of participants were recruited, younger adults (M = 19.78, SD = 4.99) and older adults (M = 49.31, SD = 8.72). Data were collected by creating a survey and allowing participants to choose whichever songs, from their own experience, they like and asking them to list detailed memories that are attached to the song. Using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (2015) software, data was coded into categories of word count, positive and negative emotions, and how sociable words are. On average, young adults (M = 18.66, SD = 13.39) use more words when recalling their musical memories than older adults (M = 15.09, SD = 8.86). Data also suggests that young women (M = 9.76, SD = 4.91) use less words that are ranked as social than older women (M = 13.44, SD = 6.25). The impact of this study sheds some light on how music influences the memories of our culture, our society, and our self.

Stemming from the interdisciplinary questions, "what is the self?" and "what occurs in the absence of the self' this study sheds light on key areas of interest to both clinical psychologists and cognitive scientists. Following a review of self-literature across several disciplines, it is concluded that the fracturing or absence of the self may relate to certain psychopathologies. The present study used oral autobiographical narrative and a self-report inventory of psychopathology to explore this relationship in 43 college students. By examining these questions from a bottom-up perspective, this study expands upon existing literature regarding quantitative linguistic analysis of narrative in addition to providing key empirical data for the interdisciplinary study of psychopathology. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software and the Brief Symptom Inventory were used to categorize word use in autobiographical narratives and recent psychological distress. Linear regression with forward modeling was used to explore linguistic factors from the narratives that related to specific types of psychopathology. Results suggested that increased use of positive feeling words (e.g., happy, joy, love) in autobiographical narratives predicted an increased overall severity of distress, with other emotional, cognitive, and pronoun-based word usage predicting specific forms of psychopathology.

A breakout star among American progressives in the recent past, Elizabeth Warren has quickly gone from a law professor to a leading figure in Democratic politics. This paper analyzes Warren’s speech from before her time as a political figure to the present using the quantitative textual methodology established by Jones (2016) in order to see if Warren’s speech supports Jones’s assertion that masculine speech is the language of power. Ratios of feminine to masculine markers ultimately indicate that despite her increasing political sway, Warren’s speech becomes increasingly feminine instead. However, despite associations of feminine speech with weakness, Warren’s speech scores highly for expertise and confidence as its feminine scores increase. These findings relate to the relevant political context and have implications for presumptions of masculine speech as the standard for political power.