Tag Archives: Speeches

Researchers examined 8 million US speeches and uncovered unexpected patterns

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Research has revealed a significant decline in the use of evidence-based language in American political speeches since the 1970s.

Findings published in the journal Natural human behavior stemmed from an analysis of over 8 million speeches delivered in the US Congress over the last 140 years.

“We wanted to understand why some politicians who frequently lie are perceived as honest,” stated Dr. Segun Aroyehun, the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Constance in Germany, as quoted in BBC Science Focus. “Often, it is because they speak about their beliefs and come across as genuine.”

Earlier research by Aroyehun and colleagues highlighted a shift in language usage among US Congress members towards belief-driven and intuitive language, departing from evidence-based language.

“There is a clear distinction between evidence-based truth and intuitive truth, where emotions play a crucial role,” Aroyehun explained.

To delve deeper, the team probed historical records to ascertain if this shift was a recent occurrence.

Utilizing machine learning models, the researchers combed through almost 150 years of Congress speeches, establishing a scoring system based on keywords signifying evidence-based or intuition-based language.

While evidence-based keywords comprised terms like “analysis”, “data”, “study results”, and “study”, intuition-based language included phrases such as “perspective”, “common sense”, “prediction”, and “believe”.

Both Republicans and Democrats have exhibited similar language changes in their political speeches over the past 140 years. – Getty

Each speech was assessed based on the evidence-intuition language ratio.

The results were striking. While the ratio fluctuated over the 140-year period, evidence-based language predominated until the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s before a shift took place. Since the 1970s, intuition-based language has gradually gained prominence.

Aroyehun noted that this trend applied to both Democratic and Republican politicians, with a recent uptick observed in evidence-based language among Democrats.

He underscored that the ratio does not determine the veracity of the speech content.

Nonetheless, these linguistic shifts have had repercussions. The team juxtaposed these changes with measures of legislative polarization and income inequality, observing a simultaneous decline in parliamentary productivity—measured by statute quantity and quality—over this period.

“The core message here is the significance of rhetoric,” Aroyehun emphasized. “The nature of truth pursuit reflected in US Congress language is integral to gauging social and political well-being.”

The team aims to employ similar methodologies to analyze speeches in Germany and Italy, tracking trends across diverse democracies.

About our experts

Segun Aroyehun is a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the Social Data Science Group at the University of Constance. He holds a PhD from Centro derestigación Computación, IPN, focusing on devising robust strategies to combat offensive content on social media. His research has been featured in publications like Natural human behavior and Natural Communication.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Over time, US Congress speeches have become increasingly devoid of evidence

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Congressional speeches have shifted to not based on evidence

volodymyr tverdokhlib/alamy

The language used by US Congress members in the debate has increasingly included words like “fake,” and “suspectful” for words like “proof,” and “reason.”

This linguistic trend, away from evidence in support of intuition, was revealed in an artificial intelligence analysis of millions of Congress speech transcripts. It also says it coincides with both the larger political polarization in Congress and the decline in the number of laws enacted through Congress. Stephen Lewandowski At the University of Bristol, UK.

“We can think of the truth as something that can be achieved based on an analysis of evidence, or we can think of it as the result of intuition or “gut sensation,” says Lewandowsky. “The concepts of integrity and truth are expressed in how we use everyday language.”

Adapting the ready-made AI language model, Lewandowsky and his colleagues analyzed the words used in the transcripts of eight million council speeches given between 1879 and 2022. They then calculated scores indicating whether a particular parliamentary speech was leaning towards evidence or intuition.

They found that since the 1970s, Congress has increasingly supported languages ​​based on intuition rather than evidence-based languages. Before that, in the golden age of 1899-1901, and in the Great Repression of 1933-1935, intuitive language also skyrocketed.

“The findings fit the other impressions of anti-intellectualism, populism and rejection of science experts over the last decades.” John Jost At New York University.

The specific strength of the research is not only tracking frequency, but also assessing the context in which the words are displayed, he says Renata Nemet At the University of Eötvös Loránd, Hungary. “These models can capture deeper and often subtle connections between words, even reflecting cultural meanings and social relationships,” she says.

Second, Lewandowsky and his colleagues will look for similar language shifts for individual lawmakers in both Congress speeches and social media posts. They also seek to compare similar trends among other parliaments throughout history, including speeches from lawmakers from Italy and Germany.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Can Inspirational Speeches Boost Your Gym Performance? A Look at the Callus on Your Heart

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Maybe my father walked out on me, the speaker theorized, his voice sounding like the crash of drums (often typical of tense moments on reality TV shows).

Father absence is a common theme in motivational training speeches, so the narrator in my earphones takes the form of a father. Sometimes they encourage dad, but more often dad yells angrily from the sidelines.

Motivational speeches were first adopted by weightlifters who called for loud encouragement during bench presses, but have since made their way into the fitness mainstream. These stand-in dads live in a maze of proliferating playlists on Spotify and YouTube. So you can listen to it at the gym, or if you’re feeling bored, you can watch a montage of stock footage of people screaming in the rain on your laptop. Tracks can feature snippets from solo speakers or multiple sources. Ministers, athletes, and business leaders feature prominently, but their voices are often uncredited. The voice is usually accentuated with dramatic music.

you probably know better david goggins a former U.S. Navy SEAL lashed out at the cameras during a run, ordering his 10.4 million Instagram followers to “numb your mind.”

Jenny Valentish poses before a bodybuilding competition. Photo: Diana Domonkos

When it comes to motivation, I prefer carrots to sticks. “Great work” makes me blossom. But after a few months of overindulgence, you need a strict taskmaster. I usually take my training seriously, fighting in Muay Thai and competing in amateur bodybuilding, but if anything, when I started going into full beast mode, my true self… ‘s father was a little confused.

Source: www.theguardian.com