The Effects of Social Environment on Pronouns as a Measure of Self-Awareness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Persall
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
The Self ◽  
First Person ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Group Setting ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

By analyzing the types of words used in people’s writing, we can make inferences about the different psychological states individuals may be in. According to previous research, the types of pronouns people express in their language can give information about their focus of attention. Greater use of first person singular pronouns is indicative of higher levels of self-awareness. People's focus of attention can be shifted towards the self by placing a mirror in front of them, or shifted to others by having other people present. This study manipulated levels of self-awareness in individuals, and then measured the pronoun usage in their writing using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2007). The results showed that the mirror condition displayed a significantly higher frequency of first person pronouns compared to the group condition. These results indicate that an individual setting with a mirror increases self-awareness, and that a group setting with no mirror reduces self-awareness. Researching self-awareness is important because it is a basic trait in humans, and a lack of, or excessive levels of self-awareness may indicate psychological problems, thus it can be applied to the study of mental disorders such as depression and mania.

Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC)

2012 ◽  
pp. 206-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy K. Chung ◽  
James W. Pennebaker
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Behavioral Outcomes ◽  
Content Word ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Psychological Measures ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007) is a word counting software program that references a dictionary of grammatical, psychological, and content word categories. LIWC has been used to efficiently classify texts along psychological dimensions and to predict behavioral outcomes, making it a text analysis tool widely used in the social sciences. LIWC can be considered to be a tool for applied natural language processing since, beyond classification, the relative uses of various LIWC categories can reflect the underlying psychology of demographic characteristics, honesty, health, status, relationship quality, group dynamics, or social context. By using a comparison group or longitudinal information, or validation with other psychological measures, LIWC analyses can be informative of a variety of psychological states and behaviors. Combining LIWC categories using new algorithms or using the processor to assess new categories and languages further extend the potential applications of LIWC.

No Space for Others? On the Increase of Students’ Self-Focus When Prodded to Think About Many Others

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 698-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens H. Hellmann ◽  
Marijke Hannah Adelt ◽  
Regina Jucks
Keyword(s):  
Present Experiment ◽  
First Person ◽  
Student Life ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

In the present experiment, participants read about the presence of many versus few others in typical student-life situations. They subsequently wrote an essay about their perspectives on learning in groups. Using the program Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to analyze these essays signified that participants who read prompts that involved many (vs. few) other students used more first-person singular pronouns and fewer words related to others. We interpret this increase in self-focus as a consequence of induced social crowding.

Bereavement after Suicide: A Study of Memorials on the Internet

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lester
Keyword(s):  
Computer Program ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Significant Other ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
Survivors Of Suicide ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

This study compared the written memorials on websites posted by survivors of suicide with those written by people who had lost a significant other from natural causes, using a computer program, the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Thirteen significant differences were identified and, in addition, 13 differences that approach significance. Memorials written by survivors of suicide had longer sentences and used longer words. They had more death-related words, fewer references to the self or to the deceased (“you”), and more words reflective of anger and sadness. The results suggest the deaths from suicide had a more profound impact on the survivors than the natural deaths and results in greater emotional distress.

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.

Self-Awareness and the “I” in the Phenomenological Tradition

2021 ◽  
pp. 267-286
Author(s):  
Sacha Golob
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Model ◽  
The Self ◽  
First Person ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Phenomenological Tradition ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Features ◽  
First Person Perspective ◽  
Key Innovations

The Phenomenological tradition is defined by its attempt to rethink the self and self-awareness. This chapter provides an overview of some of the fundamental developments within that tradition running from Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty to later writers such as Henry. I begin by sketching the key features: its relationship to naturalistic and transcendental approaches, the centrality of the first person perspective, and the hierarchical model which is central to Phenomenology’s vision of experience. I next introduce the specifics of Phenomenology’s picture of self-awareness, positioning it between the spectatorial model found in Brentano and a Kantian intellectualism. I then turn to some key innovations: Sartre’s notion of non-positional self-consciousness, Heidegger on the links between the self and the social, and finally Merleau-Ponty’s conception of embodiment.

scholarly journals Linguistic Markers of Grandiose Narcissism: A LIWC Analysis of 15 Samples

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 773-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas S. Holtzman ◽  
Allison M. Tackman ◽  
Angela L. Carey ◽  
Melanie S. Brucks ◽  
Albrecht C. P. Küfner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
First Person ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Grandiose Narcissism ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Linguistic Markers ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

Narcissism is unrelated to using first-person singular pronouns. Whether narcissism is linked to other language use remains unclear. We aimed to identify linguistic markers of narcissism. We applied the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to texts ( k = 15; N = 4,941). The strongest positive correlates were using words related to sports, second-person pronouns, and swear words. The strongest negative correlates were using anxiety/fear words, tentative words, and words related to sensory/perceptual processes. Effects were small (each | r| < .10).

scholarly journals Linguistic Markers of Narcissism: An Exploratory LIWC Analysis of 15 Samples

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas S. Holtzman ◽  
Allison Mary Tackman ◽  
Albrecht Kuefner ◽  
Fenne große Deters ◽  
Mitja Back ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
First Person ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Linguistic Markers ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

Narcissism is unrelated to using first-person singular pronouns. Whether narcissism is linked to other language use remains unclear. We aimed to identify linguistic markers of narcissism. We applied the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to texts (k = 15; N = 4,941). The strongest positive correlates were: using words related to sports, second-person pronouns, and swear words. The strongest negative correlates were: using anxiety/fear words, tentative words, and words related to sensory/perceptual processes. Effects were small (each |r| &lt; .10).

scholarly journals Detecting associations between dietary supplement intake and sentiments within mental disorder tweets

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 803-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yefeng Wang ◽  
Yunpeng Zhao ◽  
Jianqiu Zhang ◽  
Jiang Bian ◽  
Rui Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Dietary Supplement ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Supplement Intake

Many patients with mental disorders take dietary supplement, but their use patterns remain unclear. In this study, we developed a method to detect signals of associations between dietary supplement intake and mental disorder in Twitter data. We developed an annotated dataset and trained a convolutional neural network classifier that can identify language use pattern of dietary supplement intake with an F1-score of 0.899, a precision of 0.900, and a recall of 0.900. Using the classifier, we discovered that melatonin and vitamin D were the most commonly used supplements among Twitter users who self-diagnosed mental disorders. Sentiment analysis using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count has shown that among Twitter users who posted mental disorder self-diagnosis, users who indicated supplement intake are more active and express more negative emotions and fewer positive emotions than those who have not mentioned supplement intake.

Writing About the Silence: Identifying the Language of Ostracism

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 751-763
Author(s):  
Fabian Klauke ◽  
Lena C. Müller-Frommeyer ◽  
Simone Kauffeld
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
First Person ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
First Person Plural ◽  
N 93

Autobiographical reports of episodes of ostracism and social inclusion were analyzed in two separate samples (German N = 93; English N = 243) using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. Recalling ostracism was associated with the use of more first-person singular pronouns, fewer first-person plural pronouns, and more complex language. These findings could reflect ostracism inducing a self-focus and putting high cognitive load on its targets. This study provides a first step to establish linguistic analysis as a tool for the research of social exclusion.

A Linguistic Analysis of Suicide-Related Twitter Posts

Crisis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 319-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridianne O'Dea ◽  
Mark E. Larsen ◽  
Philip J. Batterham ◽  
Alison L. Calear ◽  
Helen Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Risk ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
First Person ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Online Risk ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Social Media Site ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

Abstract. Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Identifying those at risk and delivering timely interventions is challenging. Social media site Twitter is used to express suicidality. Automated linguistic analysis of suicide-related posts may help to differentiate those who require support or intervention from those who do not. Aims: This study aims to characterize the linguistic profiles of suicide-related Twitter posts. Method: Using a dataset of suicide-related Twitter posts previously coded for suicide risk by experts, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and regression analyses were conducted to determine differences in linguistic profiles. Results: When compared with matched non-suicide-related Twitter posts, strongly concerning suicide-related posts were characterized by a higher word count, increased use of first-person pronouns, and more references to death. When compared with safe-to-ignore suicide-related posts, strongly concerning suicide-related posts were characterized by increased use of first-person pronouns, greater anger, and increased focus on the present. Other differences were found. Limitations: The predictive validity of the identified features needs further testing before these results can be used for interventional purposes. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that strongly concerning suicide-related Twitter posts have unique linguistic profiles. The examination of Twitter data for the presence of such features may help to validate online risk assessments and determine those in need of further support or intervention.

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