We’re often reminded “choose your words carefully” – well it turns out the words themselves may reveal far more than what we’re actually trying to say. There’s mounting evidence that our personality is written, quite literally, in the language that we use, from the tweets we send to our choice of email address.
Not all findings are particularly surprising. Those who score highly on extroversion really are a lot louder and chattier than their more introverted peers. They also tend to speak more quickly. Female extroverts, but not males, are more likely to have group chats, while introvert men (but not women) spend more time talking to themselves.
extroverts’ language tended to be more abstract and “loose”, while introverts spoke in more concrete terms. In other words, introverts tend to be a lot more specific.
Extroverts say: “This article is excellent”
Introverts say: “This article is very informative”
In line with this, other research has found that introverts tend to use more articles (the/a) – which, by definition, refer to individual objects or events. They also tend to be more cautious in their language: that is, they use more hedging (perhaps, maybe), and more quantifiable terms, such as referring to specific numbers.
The links between personality and language also extend to the written word. When Jacob Hirsh and Jordan Peterson from the University of Toronto asked students to write about past experiences and future goals, they found that those who scored higher in extroversion tended to make more mention of words pertaining to relationships, which makes sense, the researchers said, as extroverts are “active social explorers”.
But it’s not just about extroversion vs introversion. Their language also revealed other aspects of their personalities – including how open-minded they were (the liberal used more words pertaining to the senses), how neurotic (the highly strung referred more often to emotional angst) and how conscientious (more diligent students used more achievement and work-related words).
The neurotic say: “I carry around a monstrous sadness”
The open-minded say: “You just need to be heard”
The conscientious say: “We can work on it”
