back to the Publication Alerts menuCannizzaro, Michael, Nicole Reilly, and Peter J. Snyder. "Speech Content Analysis in Feigned Depression." Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 33, no. 4 (2004): 289-301.
Cannizaro et al. used the General Inquirer computer program to analyze transcripts of speech provided by non-depressed subjects who were asked to speak normally and also to speak as if they were depressed (to guard against order effects, some subjects were first asked to speak normally, while some were first asked to speak with feigned depression). Cannizzaro et al. report that words from one General Inquirer category (the "tool" category) were relatively less common when subjects feigned depression. In addition, subjects used fewer total words when feigning depression.