Table 1.

Study 1: condition statistics and tests of significant between-condition differences.

		Hopes		Duties		Tests of between–condition differences
Word type	Examples	M	SD	M	SD	df	t	Mean diff.	95% CI	d
HOPES HIGHER
Analytical/categorical vs. dynamic	a	69.01	28.30	53.94	32.77	588.19	6.04	15.07	[10.17, 19.98]	0.49
Emotional tone	b	61.77	34.27	43.13	34.48	599.00	6.64	18.63	[13.13, 24.14]	0.54
Positive emotion	Love, nice, sweet	3.82	4.32	2.27	3.06	536.24	5.09	1.56	[0.96, 2.16]	0.42
Achievement	Win, success, better	4.38	5.38	2.38	3.85	539.66	5.24	2.00	[1.25, 2.75]	0.43
Reward	Take, prize, benefit	3.56	5.06	1.80	2.83	466.50	5.24	1.75	[1.10, 2.41]	0.43
Work	Job, majors, xerox	9.72	9.27	5.88	6.55	535.95	5.87	3.84	[2.56, 5.13]	0.48
Leisure	Cook, chat, movie	2.89	5.64	0.90	2.09	377.53	5.73	1.99	[1.31, 2.67]	0.47
DUTIES HIGHER
Clout/status	c	24.73	23.57	34.59	30.00	569.65	−4.48	−9.86	[−14.19, −5.54]	−0.37
Words per sentence	–	15.52	6.68	18.26	8.05	599.00	−4.53	−2.73	[−3.92, −1.55]	−0.37
Total function words	It, to, no, very	53.33	10.33	58.40	8.46	599.00	−6.58	−5.07	[−6.58, −3.55]	−0.54
Total pronouns	I, them, itself	15.54	7.13	19.24	6.93	599.00	−6.45	−3.70	[−4.83, −2.57]	−0.53
Personal pronouns	I, them, her	12.31	6.02	14.80	6.02	599.00	−5.07	−2.49	[−3.46, −1.53]	−0.41
Third person singular	She, her, him	0.20	1.07	1.86	3.48	358.05	−7.93	−1.66	[−2.08, -1.25]	−0.65
Conjunctions	And, but, whereas	4.69	4.05	6.62	4.47	599.00	−5.55	−1.93	[−2.62, -1.25]	−0.45
Negations	No, not, never	0.42	1.10	1.27	2.13	452.50	−6.16	−0.85	[−1.12, −0.57]	−0.50
Negative emotion	Hurt, ugly, nasty	0.41	1.37	1.53	2.95	426.97	−5.98	−1.12	[−1.49, −0.75]	−0.49
Social processes	Mate, talk, they	4.39	6.23	9.82	8.70	545.33	−8.82	−5.44	[−6.65, −4.22]	−0.72
Family	Daughter, dad, aunt	0.70	2.64	2.01	3.65	548.25	−5.04	−1.31	[−1.82, −0.80]	−0.41
Friends	Buddy, neighbor	0.15	0.93	0.92	2.70	371.71	−4.63	−0.76	[−1.09, −0.48]	−0.38
Female references	Girl, her, mom	0.31	1.60	2.03	4.30	383.37	−6.49	−1.72	[−2.24, −1.19]	−0.53
Male references	Boy, his, dad	0.41	1.70	1.38	3.54	433.92	−4.29	−0.97	[−1.41, −0.52]	−0.35
Differentiation	Hasn't, but, else	1.31	2.35	2.67	3.48	528.34	−5.66	−1.37	[−1.84, −0.89]	−0.46
Affiliation	Ally, friend, social	1.45	3.06	3.39	5.24	486.33	−5.55	−1.94	[−2.63, −1.25]	−0.45

To limit the potential for false-positive results, I set a conservative limit for inclusion in this table at p < 0.001, two-tailed, and d ≥ 0.35. Degrees of freedom are adjusted for heterogeneity of variance. Mean values indicate the mean percentage of all of the words that participants used that fell into a particular category, except the mean values for words per sentence and the summary variables (analytical thinking, tone, and clout).

^aThe analytical/categorical thinking variable is by Pennebaker et al. (2014).

^bThe emotional tone variable is by Cohn et al. (2004).

^cThe clout/status variable is by Kacewicz et al. (2013).