Choice Words

How We Talk When We Talk About Politics
This from a poll taken from the Texas Observer by James W. Pennebaker:

The Big Picture:

Obama supporters tended to be cognitively abstract and complex, and upbeat.

Clinton supporters were engaged and personally involved with concrete political issues. The were living in the here-and-now and were positive in their thinking.

McCain supporters tended to be emotionally distant. Most striking was their negative mood and dearth of positive emotions. This grouchy orientation may reflect a risk-averse approach to the world, as opposed to an opportunity-oriented way of thinking.

This recent Observer poll of 2,500 Democratic Primary voters in Texas asked participants two open-ended questions about their preferences. First, "In a couple of sentences, could you tell me what you think about the presidential campaign so far?" The second: " Could you describe the Texas issues that are most important to you?"

The analysis of the words people used to answer the questions, they were able to see how supporters of the different candidates are psychologically different. There were also similarities between the rhetoric of the campaigns and the language used by their supporters.

These differences were : Personal language, thinking styles, emotional tone, whether they were inhibited or constrained and their time orientation which reflect what the participant was thinking of past, present or future.

The author of the study and article in the Texas Observer is chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information see

www.psy.utexas.edu/Pennebaker