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Cited by 381Authorship Attribution and ProfilingMental Health via WritingAttachment and Relationship Dynamics

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 123 of the 123 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Language style matching in writing: Synchrony in essays, correspondence, and poetry.

Ireland, Molly E., Pennebaker, James W.·2010·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/a0020386
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Abstract

Each relationship has its own personality. Almost immediately after a social interaction begins, verbal and nonverbal behaviors become synchronized. Even in asocial contexts, individuals tend to produce utterances that match the grammatical structure of sentences they have recently heard or read. Three projects explore language style matching (LSM) in everyday writing tasks and professional writing. LSM is the relative use of 9 function word categories (e.g., articles, personal pronouns) between any 2 texts. In the first project, 2 samples totaling 1,744 college students answered 4 essay questions written in very different styles. Students automatically matched the language style of the target questions. Overall, the LSM metric was internally consistent and reliable across writing tasks. Women, participants of higher socioeconomic status, and students who earned higher test grades matched with targets more than others did. In the second project, 74 participants completed cliffhanger excerpts from popular fiction. Judges' ratings of excerpt-response similarity were related to content matching but not function word matching, as indexed by LSM. Further, participants were not able to intentionally increase style or content matching. In the final project, an archival study tracked the professional writing and personal correspondence of 3 pairs of famous writers across their relationships. Language matching in poetry and letters reflected fluctuations in the relationships of 3 couples: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, and Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Implications for using LSM as an implicit marker of social engagement and influence are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

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Metadata

Authors
Ireland, M. E., & Pennebaker, J. W.
Affiliations
The University of Texas at Austin (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2010-09
Volume
99
Issue
3
Pages
549-571
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/a0020386
OpenAlex
W2152198378
Cited by
380
References
123
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 15
FWCI
13.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Army Research Institute (W91WAW-07-C-0029)
  • Counterintelligence Field Activity (H9c104-07-C-0014)
  • Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (Z934002)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Authorship Attribution and Profiling
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Keywords
language style matching, function words, essay writing, poetry, social synchrony, interpersonal relationships, social influence, gender differences, socioeconomic status, test performance, popular fiction, professional writing, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Language, Linguistics, Literature, Male, Poetry as Topic, Psychometrics, Socioeconomic Factors, Students, Texas, Writing, Correspondence as Topic, Sex Distribution, Intention, Young Adult

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