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Critical Evaluation : Kwantes Et Al Essay

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Critical Evaluation: Kwantes et al. (2016) The study of linguistic styles, using textual data from written documents, has interested psychology researchers across a variety of domains. Word based analyses have previously linked specific textual content to emotional, social and cultural characteristics. Initial applications also centred on associations between written work and psychopathology, such as schizophrenia, depression and suicidal ideation (Stone, Dunphy, Smith & Ogilvy, 1966). More recently, researchers have explored language use as a method for delineating personality styles. Kwantes, Derbentseva, Lam, Vartanian, and Marmurek (2016) sought to assess whether personality traits were identifiable based on participants’ written essays. Their study provides helpful results and indicates critical areas for future research design. Kwantes et al. (2016) built upon classic personality trait research by Allport and Odbert (1936) and Cattell (1943), further refined by Goldberg (1990) as the ‘Big Five’ personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to new experience and neuroticism. Recent research on the Big Five has centered on the lexical approach, which presupposes that fundamental personality characteristics are expressed in an individual 's language, which may then be subject to further analysis and classification. The main purpose of the Kwantes et al. (2016) study was thus to explore whether words that individuals use in written documents

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