Pronouns in everyday conversations can indicate a consecutive dissolution months in advance – even before one of the two parties realizes what is happening.
One year before and one year after sharing news about their outages in the r / BreakUps subreddit, researchers analyzed more than 1 million posts by 6,800 Reddit users. The researchers found that their language started to change three months before the break and only returned to normal about six months later.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to examine expositions and how long they have been using natural language data.
“It seems like even before people are aware that a breakup is going to take place, it has an impact on their lives,” says lead author Sarah Seraj, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. ‘We do not really notice how many times we use prepositions, articles or pronouns, but these function words change in a way when you go through a personal revolution that can tell us a lot about our emotional and psychological state. . ”
Whether someone had been downloaded or was dumping, language markers of the impending breakup were noticeable up to three months before the event. Their language has become more personal and informal, indicating a decline in analytical thinking. They used the words “I” and “us” more and showed signs of increased cognitive processing.
‘These are signs that someone has a heavy cognitive burden. They think or work through something and become more self-directed, ”says Seraj. ‘Sometimes the use of the word’ I ‘is associated with depression and sadness. When people are depressed, they tend to focus on themselves and may not be able to relate to others as much. ”
These pronounced patterns culminated on the day of the outline and remained so until six months later, even when people discussed other topics in different subreddit communities.
However, the researchers found that the language of some users was not normal again a year after dissolution. These users tended to linger in the r / BreakUps subreddit for months and flush their breakup story over and over, making it harder for them to heal, the researchers suggest.
The researchers also compared their findings with users going through divorces and other emotional upheavals, and found similar language patterns, although more muted due to out-of-relationship upheavals.
“What makes this project so fascinating is that for the first time we can see through technology how people experience an exposition in real time,” says co-author Kate Blackburn, a research fellow in psychology. “The implications for this research are far-reaching. At the most basic level, it gives you, me and everyday people insight into how loved ones can respond over time to the end of a romantic relationship. ”
This research took place in the Pennebaker Language Lab at UT Austin, led by Professor of Psychology James Pennebaker, who is also co-author of the article.
Source: UT Austin