The use of intensifying adjectives like “real” and “unbelievable” is a particular sign of stress. When people frequently use these words, genes associated with stress are more active in their bodies than average. American researchers report this in the scientific journal PNAS .
The scientists reached their findings by asking 143 subjects to wear an audio recorder for two days. The device recorded their conversations every few minutes.
The scientists listened to these recordings and analyzed the participants’ language. Furthermore, all subjects underwent blood tests to measure how many “stress genes” were activated in their bodies. It has long been known that many genes that cause inflammation become active in the bodies of stressed people.
Emotional
The study found that subjects who used many emotionally charged adjectives were significantly more likely to have high stress levels.
But according to the researchers, the language use of stressed people is also recognizable in another way. They speak less often in the third person. Words like “they” and “them,” for example, appear surprisingly rarely in their sentences. This is likely because people focus primarily on themselves when they’re stressed.
Remarkable
According to the scientists, the study participants’ genetic stress levels were more easily determined through their language use than through stress questionnaires. This finding is remarkable, says independent psychologist James Pennebaker.
“Language reveals how people relate to the world,” he explains on the news website Nature . “But who would have thought that you could also see which genes are expressed in our bodies?”