Linguistics

Cognitive psychology

Philosophy

Emotionality

Social psychology

Variety (cybernetics)

Computer science

Psychology

Psychotherapist

Artificial intelligence

Word (group theory)

Meaning (existential)

Journal of Language and Social Psychology

We are in the midst of a technological revolution whereby, for the first time, researchers can link daily word use to a broad array of real-world behaviors. This article reviews several computerized text analysis methods and describes how Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) was created and validated. LIWC is a transparent text analysis program that counts words in psychologically meaningful categories. Empirical results using LIWC demonstrate its ability to detect meaning in a wide variety of experimental settings, including to show attentional focus, emotionality, social relationships, thinking styles, and individual differences.

The Psychological Meaning of Words: LIWC and Computerized Text Analysis Methods