Negative Phrases can Cause a Negative Emotional Assessment: an Empirical Study

Introduction. There are theoretical propositions declaring that negations carry a negative emotional charge. Indirectly, this is confirmed by a number of modern studies. However, it remains unknown whether negations in their most abstract lexical form are capable of causing a negative emotional effect. In the presented study, the negative effect of denial was revealed for the first time. Purpose. Theoretically substantiate the emotional negative effect of negations and empirically identify it by comparing evaluations of negative and affirmative phrases.

Materials and methods. In studies related to the topic, it is difficult to differentiate the influence on the emotional assessment of the meaning of the negated concept from the influence of the negative form itself. To identify the negative emotional effect of lexical negations, we asked subjects to evaluate affirmative and negative phrases not only with a pronounced emotional meaning, but also with a neutral one, which allowed us to minimize the influence of the meaning of the phrase. The study involved 87 subjects who rated phrases using two methods: R. Likert’s direct scale assessment and color-mediated assessment (A. M. Etkind’s RCT method).

Results. The results showed a high significance of the differences between the negation of the neutral and the assertion of the neutral, negative phrases were indeed evaluated more negatively. An additional comparison of phrases with emotional meaning showed that denial softens the emotional expression of the concept, shifting its assessment closer to the neutral part of the scale.

Discussion. Previous studies have shown a connection between a negative response and negative emotional reactions. In our study, it was shown for the first time that even an abstract version of a negative phrase can significantly shift an assessment into the negative spectrum of the emotional scale. These data are consistent with the embodied approach to language analysis, where sensorimotor and emotional reactions underlie the formation of abstract language forms. For the first time, the revealed connection between lexical negation and negative emotional reactions deepens the understanding of one of the most frequent linguistic means.

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