ABSTRACT
One of the main functions of groups is social influence among its members. This chapter explores how language used by group members relates to concepts important for social influence, including status, conflict, emotions, and group cohesion. A discussion of using automated language software, especially Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), as a method to explore social influence is presented, although mixed methods are recommended. Further, this chapter guides the reader to integrate LIWC results into theory on social influence in groups, with a focus on the input-processes-output model as a conceptual framework. The input-processes-output model provides a theoretical perspective that explains how group processes and emergent states are reflected in language use in a group. When deciding how to interpret empirical data, this chapter suggests language categories with implications for social influence in groups, particularly pronoun use (i.e., we, I, they, you), linguistic style matching (LSM), language complexity (i.e., analytical thinking, causation words), and emotional language (i.e., positive and negative emotions).
