Journal article
Human language reveals a universal positivity bias
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 112(8), pp 2389-2394
24 Feb 2015
PMID: 25675475
Abstract
Using human evaluation of 100,000 words spread across 24 corpora in 10 languages diverse in origin and culture, we present evidence of a deep imprint of human sociality in language, observing that (i) the words of natural human language possess a universal positivity bias, (ii) the estimated emotional content of words is consistent between languages under translation, and (iii) this positivity bias is strongly independent of frequency of word use. Alongside these general regularities, we describe interlanguage variations in the emotional spectrum of languages that allow us to rank corpora. We also show how our word evaluations can be used to construct physical-like instruments for both real-time and offline measurement of the emotional content of large-scale texts.
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Details
- Title
- Human language reveals a universal positivity bias
- Creators
- Peter Sheridan Dodds - University of VermontEric M. Clark - University of VermontSuma Desu - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMorgan R. Frank - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAndrew J. Reagan - University of VermontJake Ryland Williams - University of VermontLewis Mitchell - The University of AdelaideKameron Decker Harris - University of Washington Applied Physics LaboratoryIsabel M. Kloumann - Cornell UniversityJames P. Bagrow - University of VermontKarine Megerdoomian - Mitre (United States)Matthew T. McMahon - Mitre (United States)Brian F. Tivnan - Mitre (United States)Christopher M. Danforth - University of Vermont
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 112(8), pp 2389-2394
- Publisher
- Natl Acad Sciences
- Number of pages
- 6
- Grant note
- 0846668 / National Science Foundation CAREER Award; National Science Foundation (NSF) 0846668 / Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie; Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences (SBE)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Information Science
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000349911700038
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84923666748
- Other Identifier
- 991021806674804721
InCites Highlights
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Multidisciplinary Sciences