Tracking Secret-Keeping in Emails

Authors

  • Yla Tausczik University of Maryland, College Park
  • Cindy Chung The University of Texas at Austin
  • James Pennebaker The University of Texas at Austin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v10i1.14740

Abstract

How do people communicate with others once they begin harboring a major life secret? Sixty-one adults who started keeping a major secret within the past several years agreed to have their email correspondence analyzed. Changes in emailing frequency and word use between secret keepers and their contacts were identified from before and during secret keeping. Surprisingly, there was no evidence for social withdrawal during secret keeping. Instead, the findings support a hypervigilance hypothesis in which secret keepers communicated more frequently and exhibited more engagement with contacts presumably in an attempt to monitor their social interactions.

Downloads

Published

2021-08-04

How to Cite

Tausczik, Y., Chung, C., & Pennebaker, J. (2021). Tracking Secret-Keeping in Emails. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 10(1), 388-397. https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v10i1.14740