April 19

12pm

Carnegie 113

(or join virtually)

In everyday language, we are constantly revealing aspects of our personality, identity, social connections, emotions, and even the ways we think. Over the last 25 years, we have been witnessing a language revolution based on large data sets that can be analyzed quickly and efficiently. The results from dozens of studies are summarized that point to the value of text analysis in providing insight into individual psychology, group behavior, and cultural shifts over time and context. Text analytic methods in psychology are suggesting a new paradigm that integrates psychology, cognitive science, communications, linguistics, and computer science. A big data approach helps us to build and shape our theories in real world contexts and can ultimately complement and sometimes replace traditional lab based methods.