Mood and representations of behaviour: The how and why

Based on the idea that mood helps to tune cognitive processes to current demands, we hypothesised that mood should influence the abstraction level in which people think about behaviour, and that such mood - induced differences in cognitive attention should be manifested in behaviour descriptions. In this study, participants re-described a number of daily behaviours in their own words after a mood manipulation. As predicted, people in a positive mood were more likely to re-describe behaviours in general why terms, whereas people in a negative mood were relatively more likely to re-describe behaviours in specific how terms. The findings are discussed with respect to the role of mood in processes of behaviour regulation.© 2005 Psychology Press Ltd

When feelings speak: How affective and proprioceptive cues change language abstraction

Cognitive tuning accounts argue that both affective feelings and bodily feelings induce changes in information processing (N. Schwarz & G. L. Clore, 1996). This article examines how these effects of feelings are reflected in language abstraction. On the basis of previous work showing that affective cues change language abstraction, we hypothesized that proprioceptive cues (i.e., bodily feelings) associated with global processing (arm flexion) should induce more abstract language use, compared with bodily feelings associated with analytic processing (arm extension). This prediction received support in a study in which participants performed a written self-description task either while pressing their nondominant hand under the table (arm flexion), or on top of the table (arm extension), or while keeping their arm relaxed (control). Implications for interpersonal communication are discussed. © 2003, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved

The language of extraversion: Extraverted people talk more abstractly, introverts are more concrete

To understand the impact of personality, one needs to know how personality differences manifest themselves in language use. The present study investigates the link between extraversion and language abstraction. Participants’ spontaneous verbal utterances in face-to-face interactions were analyzed for language abstraction by applying the linguistic category model, which distinguishes predicate types that convey information in concrete or interpretative manner. We also applied the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program to relate several word categories to extraversion and language abstraction. Results show significant positive correlations between extraversion and both language abstraction and self-reported level of interpretation. Language abstraction was also linked to LIWC variables (e.g., articles, numbers) previously shown to be related to extraversion. The findings suggest that the verbal style of extraverts is characterized by a higher level of abstract interpretation, whereas introverts tend to stick to concrete facts

From the daily show to last week tonight: A quantitative analysis of discursive integration in satirical television news

Satirical news shows constitute an innovative hybrid genre that mixes regular news and fiction. The discursive integration hypothesis posits that the defining characteristic of satirical news shows is that news and fiction elements are integrated such that boundaries between the preexisting genres have blurred. The current study quantitatively tests this hypothesis on both long-running American shows such as The Daily Show and more recent shows such as Last Week Tonight. We collected transcripts of fifteen satirical news shows, eleven regular news shows, and fourteen fiction shows from 2018 (9,824,249 words). Transcripts were automatically tagged for over fifty linguistic features to identify register dimensions, patterns in linguistic features unique to genres, which we used to determine the presence of discursive integration. Findings revealed that two-thirds of satirical news shows were indeed characterized by discursive integration (which we labeled “complete hybrids”), while one-third manifested through the already existing hybrid genre of opinionated news (which we labeled “hybrid-genre echoes”). These two categories of shows demonstrate the importance of genre hybridity for defining satirical news across different shows

Humor in satirical news headlines: Analyzing humor form and content, and their relations with audience engagement

Satirical news presents a critique of current affairs through humor. Previous research suggests that satirical news can have different humor forms (e.g. linguistic strategies) and humor contents (e.g. news topics, targets), and that such differences in humor characteristics can influence audience effects of satirical news. This paper extends this research by analyzing these relationships across different types of outlets in a content analysis (Study 1) and audience engagement analysis (Study 2). In Study 1, we compared humor forms and contents of satirical news headlines posted on Facebook (N = 5,775) between outlets from different countries (United States and the Netherlands) with different political leanings (liberal and conservative). Findings showed that the coded humor forms reasonably consistently characterized satirical news across outlet types, while humor contents did not. In Study 2, we examined associations of the humor characteristics with the number of likes and comments the Facebook posts received. Results were often outlet-specific, especially in case of the coded humor contents. This paper thus reveals that when satirical news’ audience effects differ by humor characteristics, this may be attributed less to differences in humor form, and more to differences in humor content.</p

Leeftijdsdiscriminatie op de Arbeidsmarkt in de Wervings- en selectiefase: Een verkenning van verboden leeftijd-gerelateerd taalgebruik in vacatureteksten

In 2014 presenteerde het kabinet het Actieplan arbeidsmarktdiscriminatie, dat is gericht op het voorkomen en bestrijden van discriminatie op de arbeidsmarkt. Onderdeel van dit actieplan is het uitvoeren van onderzoek om de aard en omvang van discriminatie op de arbeidsmarkt inzichtelijk te krijgen. Met het huidige onderzoek naar leeftijdsdiscriminatie op de arbeidsmarkt beogen wij daar een bijdrage aan te leveren. Dit onderzoek is uitgevoerd in opdracht van het Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid en is gericht op leeftijdsdiscriminatie in de wervings- en selectiefase. Meer specifiek kijken we naar het gebruik van verboden leeftijds- gerelateerde woorden en formuleringen in vacatureteksten