Death Of 1000 Cuts

In this episode I chat with social psychologist James W Pennebaker about his research into expressive writing, and the tiny words we use each day but don't notice. We talk about a specific way of writing that can improve your mood, sleep, immune system function and even help your body heal faster. We discuss computer analyses of language, from old diaries to emails to poems, and how a particular category of words that accounts for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of your vocabulary makes up almost 60 percent of the words you use. And we find out how your output of these almost subliminal words can predict everything from status, age and gender to the likelihood the writer will take their own life. This is a great episode to listen to if you want to know: - can writing make me feel better, and if so, how? - what are some different categories of language? - how is language processed in the brain? - how can I make my characters' dialogue more genuine, and representative of their backgrounds? - what does my wri