Replication Data for: Language, Partisanship, and Cognition

The way that people understand problems manifests in the way they use language. In this paper I develop a theory of language and cognition that suggests that the structure of language mirrors the structure of cognition. Several constructs, like the Elaboration Likelihood Method and Fuzzy Trace Theory suggest that particular delivery styles are differently persuasive. I connect the literature on language and cognition, and then develop a theory of how bottom-up and top-down processing is indicative of how partisans conceptualize problems. I demonstrate how the structure of language is differently informative than the selection of lexical items. It is the how, not the what, that creates influential messaging and reveals how people conceptualize political problems. I examine four corpora across several linguistic dimensions. I conclude with a brief discussion and conclusion. I suggest that features of syntax and semantics activate different cognitive paths, making ideas and themes more memorable and persuasive, and providing a linguistic and cognitive explanation for the perpetuation of partisan stereotypes.