What distinguishes a fling that ends in tears from long-term
love? Past research suggests that the most successful couples
share common interests, values and personality traits. Now new
research published in Psychological Science proposes that the
simplest words lovebirds use to speak to each other also make a
difference—both in determining how attracted they are and how
likely they are to stay together. James Pennebaker and his
colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin recorded 40 men
and 40 women as they participated in a speed-dating exercise in
which they talked to 12 strangers of the opposite sex for four
minutes apiece. Later, the subjects rated each date based on how
much they seemed to have in common and whether they wanted to
see the person again. Pennebaker analyzed the participants’
conversations based on their use of pronouns and articles, such
as “him,” “the,” “and,” “as” and “be.” These function words are
used in most contexts and are processed rapidly and
unconsciously. [For more on how P