The Language of Death: The Effects of Mortality Salience on
Language Style Matching
Sandra Alvarez, Renate Beck, Mike Kersten, and Cathy R. Cox
Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University
Introduction
Research on behavioral synchrony suggests that people express
greater feelings of attraction when they share their visual gazes,
body postures, hand gestures (see e.g., Wheatley, Kang, Parkinson,
& Looser, 2012, for a review), and more recently, their language style
in writing or speech (e.g., Ireland & Pennebaker, 2010). One
question, however, is the extent to which people become more
synchronous when under threat. From the perspective of terror
management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon,
1986), close relationships are important because they serve as a
source of comfort and security when mortality concerns are salient
(see e.g., Mikulincer, Florian, & Hirschberger, 2003 for a review).
However, of the studies that have been conducted, no research has
examined the effects of death on people’s synchronous behaviors
with one another. The present research examined the extent to which
people match their language styles (e.g., pronoun use) following
thoughts of mortality. Specifically, It was hypothesized that individuals
would engage in higher levels of language style matching following
reminders of death.
• Next, all participants engaged in an instant messaging conversation
with a confederate and all conversations were coded on the extent
to which individuals matched their language styles. That is, the
degree of stylistic similarity, or attempted language style matching
within the written text between individuals was calculated by the
program Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker,
Booth, & Francis, 2007).
• The results revealed that following reminders of death, participants
engaged in greater levels of language style matching. The current
research provides additional support for the protective capacity of
behavioral synchrony by showing that people engage in greater
stylistic similarity through written text when mortality is salient.
Further, participants engaged in more language style matching but
did not self-report greater liking for the confederate. This points to
the importance of how people can unconsciously initiate
communicable synchronization in response to existential threat.
• Despite its limitations (e.g., college-aged samples, scripted
conversation), the results of the present research contribute to the
growing body of literature suggesting that relationships serve
important functions for dealing with mortality-related concerns (see
Mikulincer et al., 2003 for a review). Further, whereas previous
research has focused extensively on people’s relationships with
romantic partners, the current findings suggest that interactions
with strangers can also serve as a source of existential comfort
when dealing with reminders of death.
References
Results
• Results revealed that, in comparison to the control condition, participants who
were reminded of death engaged in higher levels of language style
matching, t(31) = 2.13, p = .04, d = .64.
Death
0.85
0.8
0.75
0.7
0.65
0.6
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for
self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private
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Ireland, M. E., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2010). Language style matching in writing: Synchrony in essays,
correspondence, and poetry. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 99(3), 549-571.
0.9
Language Style Matching
• Following a battery of personality questionnaires, participants were
randomly assigned to answer 15 true/false questions regarding their
death (e.g., “Do you worry about dying?”) or public speaking (e.g., “I
am very much afraid of speaking in public”). Next, participants
completed a word search puzzle to provide a delay following the
mortality salience manipulation. The word search puzzle consisted
of 8 neutral words and took approximately 5 min to complete.
Transcript Example 2
Transcript Example 1
Method
• Thirty-three students (26 female; Mage = 18.81) from Texas Christian
University participated in exchange for course credit. The cover
story stated that the study was examining “how personality traits
influence the development of first impressions.”
Discussion
Method (Cont.)
Public Speaking
Ireland, M. E., Slatcher, R. B., Eastwick, P. W., Scissors, L. E., Finkel, E. J., & Pennebaker, J. W.
(2010). Language style matching predicts relationship initiation and stability. Psychological
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Mikulincer, M., Florian, V., & Hirschberger, G. (2003). The existential function of close
relationships: Introducing death into the science of love. Personality and Social Psychology
Review, 7,
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Pennebaker, J. W., Booth, R. E., & Francis, M. E. (2007). Linguistic Inquiry and word count:
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conscious and unconscious death-related thoughts: An extension of terror management
theory. Psychological Review, 106, 835– 846.
Wheatley, T., Kang, O., Parkinson, C., & Looser, C. E. (2012). From mind perception to mental
connection: Synchrony as a mechanism for social understanding. Social And Personality
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Correspondence for this poster should be addressed to Mike Kersten,
Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, 2800 S. University Dr.,
Fort Worth, TX, 76129. E-mail address: mike.kersten@tcu.edu