Mind mapping: Using everyday language to explore social & psychological processes

Abstract The ways we express ourselves in writing and speaking reveal who we are. Historically, most psychologists, social media experts, and even computer scientists have focused more on what people were saying rather than how they were saying what they were saying. Language content is, of course, critical to basic communication. Equally interesting is an analysis of common words associated with speaking style — words such as pronouns, prepositions, articles, and other function words. An increasing number of studies have found that function words (also thought of as stop words) provide clues to deception, status, intelligence, emotional state, the quality of social relationships, and personality. In addition to summarizing recent research on the social dynamics of language, the talk will point to the natural alliance of computer science and the field of social and personality psychology..