Andrew Luttrell

Psychological Science, 2018-19

The Language of Persuasive Communication

Andy Luttrell is an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science with a research focus that seeks to bring a social psychological perspective on persuasion to the analysis of natural communication by building tools for text analysis based in core principles of psychology. He aims to advance the study of natural communication by explicitly drawing connections between language and other relevant variables, including objective indicators that the texts were persuasive. During his DSL fellowship period, Luttrell will apply interconnected methodologies, including text analyses of digital documents, survey responses, and controlled experiments, to understand patterns of language associated with compelling persuasive messages. The result will be a clearer understanding of such communication as it unfolds naturally, filling critical gaps in persuasion psychology. The data collected for the research funded by the DSL Fellowship will serve as proof of concept in an application for funding to the National Science Foundation.