Words Count

A pioneer in “therapeutic writing” says he can get a read on your state of mind simply by counting and categorizing your words, reports Jessica Wapner in the New York Times (10/14/08). James W. Pennebaker actually has written a software program, called “Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count,” or LIWC, to conduct his analysis. The program groups the words used into “dozens of categories” and then “provides a readout of how many words appear in each category.” Categories include “social words (talk, they), biological words (cheek, hands, spit), insight words (think, know, consider),” among others.

James observes that if you’re feeling good, you tend to use fewer “first-person pronouns.” He also notes that those who use “causal words,” such as “because, cause, effect” tend to be healthier because trying to understand why things happen is good for you. Men, as it turns out “tend to use more articles (a, the) and women tend to use more pronouns (he, she, they). The difference, he says, may suggest that men are more prone to concrete thinking and women are more likely to see things from other perspectives.” James says that couples with similar word counts are more likely to stay together.

He also suggests that liars like “negative emotion” words, such as “hurt, ugly, nasty.” He says John Lennon put more negative-emotion words in his songs than Paul McCartney. Big surprise. Let’s hope he doesn’t test Ringo. James has also counted Osama Bin Laden’s words, and found that his use of personal pronouns hasn’t changed much over the years, but Ayman al-Zawahri’s use of personal pronouns has grown, suggesting “greater insecurity, feelings of threat, and perhaps a shift in his relationship with bin Laden.” James is counting words from Obama and McCain, too, and his results are actually quite surprising (link here). ~ Tim Manners, editor