Table 9. Results of the analyses against predictions.
Prediction category and outcome columns are in bold if the prediction is supported and not if there is insufficient evidence or if the direction of the prediction was not determined in the first place.
| Prediction category (Measurement category) | Prediction outcome | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Uniqueness (1 st person singular pronouns) | +DEM,-GOP | “I”, “my”, “I’m” and “me” are the most frequently used unstemmed words by Democrats but not Republicans. Frequency of 1st person singular pronoun use is a significant predictor of following Democrats in all regression models. |
| Group Identity (1 st person plural pronouns) | -DEM, +GOP | “We”, “our” and “us” are among the most frequently used unstemmed words by Republicans but not Democrats. Frequency of 1st person plural pronoun use is a significant predictor of following Republicans in all regression models. |
| Impoliteness (Swear words) | +DEM,-GOP | “Fuck” and “shit” are among the most frequently used stemmed words by Democrats but not Republicans. Frequency of swear words is a significant predictor of following Democrats in all regression models |
| Positive sentiment (Positive emotion words) | +DEM,-GOP | In the most frequently used word stems Republicans use “great” but Democrats use “love”, “like”, “happi” and “amaz”, in unstemmed words Democrats use “lol”. Frequency of positive emotion words is a significant predictor of following Democrats in the regression models including outliers. |
| Negative sentiment (Negative emotion words) | -DEM, +GOP | This prediction is mildly supported: Republicans frequently use “not” (unstemmed words analysis), and often address their adversaries: “obama” “obamacare”, “liberals”, “his”. The first regression shows weakly significant (p<0.05) effect for negative emotion word use predicting Republican affiliation, a consistent, yet not significant trend is present in the model with no outliers. |
| Anxiety (Anxiety words) | +DEM,-GOP | Frequency of anxiety-related words is a significant predictor of following Democrats in three out of four regression models. |
| Feeling (Feeling words) | +DEM,-GOP | “Feel” is one of the top words used by Democrats. Frequency of feeling-related words is a significant predictor of following Democrats in the regression models including outliers. |
| Uncertainty (Tentative words) | ?DEM,? GOP | Frequency of tentative words is a significant predictor of following Republicans in the model with outliers. |
| Certainty (Certainty words) | ?DEM,? GOP | No effect found. |
| Achievement (Achievement words) | -DEM, +GOP | No effect found. |
| Religion (Religion words) | -DEM, +GOP | “God” and “psalm” are among the top words used by Republicans. Frequency of religion-related words is a predictor of following Republicans in the regression models including outliers. |
| Death (Death words) | ?DEM,? GOP | No effect found. |