I. Me. My. You. He. She. They. It. To. Of. For. These are all words we use without a second thought. But psychologist James Pennebaker says if we pay close attention to the patterns in speech and writing, we can understand profound things about others, and even ourselves.
This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
There was a time when most detective stories feature the brilliant insights of a genius.
Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple noticed clues the rest of us didn't and solved mysteries using little more than their eyes and their intuition.
In the story, the adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, Sherlock Holmes inspects a hat that was found next to a stolen gem.
He tells his friend John Watson that the hats owner is a smart, formerly wealthy man who recently turned evil.
He is middle aged, out of shape, recently cut his hair, and his wife no longer loves him.
All of this from simply looking at the hat.
In the real world, crime solving today relies less on sharp eyes and intuitive leaps and more on the science of forensics.
Suspects leave fingerprints at scenes of crime, and tiny strands of DNA can identify one person out of billions.
In recent years, psychologists have gotten into the game.
They have discovered another set of clues that can give us a window into a suspect's mind, the source of this hidden information language.
The words we use in both speech and writing reveal a lot about us.
They can give us insight into a potential criminal, yes, but also whether someone is depressed when a person is lying, even how long a lover will remain in a romantic relationship.
What your pronouns and prepositions really say about you this week on hidden brain.
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