#536 James Pennebaker: Language Use, Writing, Personality, and Stories
RECORDED ON JULY 7th 2021.
Dr. James Pennebaker is the Regents Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts and Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He and his students are exploring natural language use, group dynamics, and personality in both laboratory and real-world settings. His earlier work on expressive writing found that physical health and work performance can improve by simple writing and/or talking exercises. His cross-disciplinary research is related to linguistics, clinical and cognitive psychology, communications, medicine, and computer science. Author or editor of 12 books and over 300 articles, Pennebaker has received numerous research and teaching awards and honors.
In this episode, we talk about what we can learn about human psychology through written language. We first discuss the functions of language, and how it influences cognition. We get into written language, and the psychological benefits of writing, particularly expressive writing. We also talk about predicting relationship breakdowns through language use, personality traits, stories, and sex differences in language use.
Time Links:
Intro
Language and cognition
The psychological effects of writing
Emotions
Relationship breakdowns
Personality
Fictional stories
Sex differences in language use
Follow Dr. Pennebaker’s work!
Follow Dr. Pennebaker’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3vQ5EsR
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/39bkP66
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/2TwKRMv