Words Have Power

I had the opportunity to speak at our church's women's retreat this last weekend. So. Much.  Fun.  If I'd been thinking about it I should have filmed it for Quirky Faith....ah well.  Maybe someday.  At any rate I am loving having the opportunities to speak more often . If you have a retreat, conference, event or would like a sermon fill in let me know and we'll see if we can work out a topic and time. I'd love to share Jesus with your crew too.

I promised the women at retreat I would share the links to a few of the studies I mentioned in the speech.   major point of the presentation was my attempt to prove words have power. These studies show the amazing impact words have on our actions, thoughts, emotions and relationships.  If you know of other studies which prove the power of our words and language feel free to share them in the comments.  I'm collecting research.  Enjoy!

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The Color Study

Jules Davidoff from Goldsmith University in London conducted a study of how the perception of color is affected by language.  The Himba tribe in Namibia does not have a word for the color blue and consequently struggled to identify it in the study. Sounds unlikely until YOU try to pick out the different color green without having the word to differentiate. Crazy interesting. You can read the full study HERE. A good summary is below. 

https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-didn-t-see-the-colour-blue-until-modern-times-evidence-science

This matters because what we think about, name and process mentally is what we see in the world.  Name lots of things to be angry about?  You'll see more anger.  Process and learn more about God? You'll see His actions all around you. 

The Movement Study

The University of Brussels conducted a study of how artificial intelligence can create language by placing robots in front of mirrors and showing them their own movement.  I'm telling you - I can nerd out on this type of thing all day long.  Here is the study. 

http://www.academia.edu/2935992/Can_Body_Language_Shape_Body_Image

Saving for a Rainy Day

blog.ted.com/saving-for-a-rainy-day-keith-chen-on-language-that-forecasts-weather-and-behavior/comment-page-2/Economist Keith Chen delivered a TED talk looking at how the use of tensed verbs can affect the responsibility decisions in culture. Apparently when our thoughts about our actions separate the consequences to a future date we're less likely to behave.  Watch the whole talk below or read a shorter summary HERE.