Words for Sale: Linguistic Complexity Associates with Higher Housing Prices in Online Realty Advertisements
David M. Markowitz · Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 2023
Prior work suggests when instrumental goals are salient, linguistic complexity associates with positive behavioral outcomes compared to linguistic simplicity. The current work tested this idea using descriptions from over 1,000 online realty advertisements to associate with housing prices. The evidence suggested linguistic complexity (e.g., fewer common words, more analytic writing, and less readable writing) indeed associated with higher housing prices. These data explicated the contingent-on-effort hypothesis: linguistic complexity is favored when people value effort in a particular setting.