In response to hate speech, members of minorities use reclaimed derogatory language. Until now, psychological research has treated reclamation as a uniform concept in terms of the motivations of minorities, despite theoretical perspectives suggesting otherwise. In this paper, based on previous research, we described three motivations for using reclaimed language: to regain control, for humorous purposes, and to consolidate relationships in the community. We reported the process of creating a new scale to measure these three motivations. The three-dimensional structure of the Motivation for Language Reclamation Scale (MLRS) was validated in two studies ( N = 362; N = 141) among gay people in Poland. We also showed that the motivations have various implications for collective action intentions. Language reclamation for humorous purposes was associated with lower willingness to engage in collective action. By contrast, reclamation aimed at consolidating relationships was associated with higher willingness to engage in collective action.

This paper examines the critical, yet undertheorized role of context in verbal communication when computers are used to analyze language data. Drawing on multiple disciplines and prior work from communication and social psychology, an interactionist perspective is reviewed and applied to computational settings to demonstrate how individual, interpersonal, social, and situational factors afford or constrain verbal behavior. Using examples of language complexity and processing fluency research, this paper demonstrates how contextual factors like instrumental goal activation can reverse seemingly established relationships between simple language features and behavioral outcomes. The paper concludes by advocating for methodological approaches that systematically integrate contextual variables into natural language processing research, enabling scholars to resolve contradictory findings, enhance replicability, and develop a more nuanced understanding of how language reveals psychological processes.

Scandals such as racially insensitive costuming do not always ruin political ambitions. Instead, partisan supporters’ voting intentions can remain strong when they rely upon simplistic impressions. In this experiment, U.S. adults presented with a (fictitious) political candidate with similar (or different) sociopolitical positions were confronted with a news story about the candidate's racially insensitive Halloween costume during his college years. Participants wrote their impressions of the candidate with similar sociopolitical positions in a positive tone and with lower integrative complexity (as indexed by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count; LIWC). The effect of candidate's similar sociopolitical position on voting intentions was partially mediated by less integratively complex impressions. Thus, a noncomplex positive impression helped partisans retain their supportive intentions. Findings are considered in light of contemporary transmission of political news and opinions through social media.

Using masculine forms for mixed-gender groups or individuals of unknown gender leads people to think of men. In grammatically gendered languages, using feminine and paired forms (gender-inclusive language, GIL) is a common and effective strategy to increase the visibility of women. Although GIL benefits women as a group, its adoption may encounter resistance, especially among employed women. They may refrain from using feminine forms to refer to themselves due to apprehension about potential backlash for deviating from professional and linguistic norms. Additionally, they may hesitate, so as not to evoke societal stereotypes that associate femininity with lower competence and status in professional settings. In two representative samples of Polish self-identified women, we examined the prevalence of GIL forms in professional self-reference. In both studies, approximately half of the participants used feminine forms. The tendency to use GIL was less pronounced among employed participants, with only a third of currently employed women using feminine job titles. Gender identification moderates this effect, with working women who strongly identify with other women being more likely to use feminine forms. These findings shed light on the potential social and professional factors influencing the adoption of GIL by documenting who uses these forms in what contexts. By identifying potential barriers to broader adoption this study underscores the need to address these challenges with professional and policy-oriented interventions.

Using the classroom context as a case study, we investigated whether a novel linguistic cue—the use of self-referential metaphors—shapes person perception in metaphor-congruent ways. Across three experiments, current and former college students ( N = 1,630) read an email from a hypothetical professor that conveyed one of two common metaphors for the teacher-student relationship (coach/athletes vs. gardener/plants). They then reported their impressions of the professor, the course, and student expectations. Participants expected professors using coach metaphors to be more rigorous but less supportive than those using gardener metaphors, irrespective of the professor's gender. However, impressions evoked by the use of gardener metaphors did not significantly differ from a non-metaphorical message baseline. These findings indicate that metaphor use can shape our impressions of others independently of gender, but that some metaphors may confirm prior beliefs or expectations. These findings have significant implications for educators and person perception researchers.

This study examines whether a specific type of leader rhetoric, collective victimhood rhetoric, shapes social identity and group normative structure as ultra-distinctive and immutable. Following measures of outgroup (Muslim) vitality and ingroup existential identity-uncertainty, Indian Hindu participants ( N = 149) were randomly assigned to read either a leader narrative of ingroup collective victimhood or a pro-diversity narrative. Participants completed measures of leader endorsement and ingroup essentialism of status. Results indicated that support for collective victimhood rhetoric was related to heightened essentialism of ingroup status as naturally endowed. This effect was accentuated under high identity-uncertainty about the ingroup's future. Findings also replicated results from previous research. Identity-uncertainty about the ingroup's (Hindu) religious future mediated the relationship between outgroup (Muslim) vitality and leader support. Support for leader victimhood rhetoric was heightened when identity-uncertainty was high. Implications for populist leader support are discussed, as victimhood rhetoric is central to populist mobilization of followers.

The recent surge in research interest about gossip can be attributed, at least in part, to the possibility that this activity underlies two of the unique features of human society, when compared to those of all other social vertebrates, their scale and their complexity. Two hypotheses have emerged which touch on these features, respectively that gossip supports exceptional levels of sociability, and that it operates as a form of social control ensuring exceptional levels of cooperation. Each of these hypotheses is critically examined before considering a third and relatively neglected possibility, namely that the principle significance of gossip in social life is that it supports prediction about the future behavior of others.

Positive attitudes toward regional/minority languages are an essential precondition to language maintenance/revitalization. We investigate implicit and explicit attitudes toward Welsh and English and their relationship with childhood and adolescent age exposure among adult Welsh speakers from northwest Wales. Results indicate that implicit and explicit attitude constructs diverge and therefore bear differentially on language maintenance/revitalization. Specifically, comparing speaker data from the Language and Social Background Questionnaire with results from two independent studies, employing the Attitudes towards Languages (AToL) Scale and an Implicit Association Task respectively, we show that the implicit measure reveals a positive correlation between attitudes and exposure in primary school age. Conversely, the AToL returned no statistically significant factors, suggesting differential sensitivity of the explicit and implicit measures. We argue that an understanding of both types of attitude constructs, and attending to exposure levels especially as they relate to intergenerational transmission, is necessary to implement an effective language maintenance/revitalization strategy.

Foreign language anxiety is an emotional reaction toward learning and using a foreign language, which may negatively influence individuals’ self-perceptions, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. To explore how to mitigate the potential detrimental effect of foreign language anxiety, this meta-analysis and systematic review included 37 primary articles on interventions targeting relieving foreign language anxiety. The results revealed the overall efficacy of these interventions ( ES = −0.61, p = .03) in reducing anxiety . Age was the only significant moderator despite seven moderators being included. The qualitative section of the systematic review examined intervention types, publication patterns, and research designs in the 37 analyzed articles. A notable increase in publications on this topic was observed over time, with approximately equal numbers of studies utilizing direct versus indirect interventions. This review offers implications for both future researchers and practical applications in addressing foreign language anxiety.