My research broadly revolves around two themes: (1) emotion and language and (2) language in naturalistic contexts. In my work, I employ various methods, including experimental methods, such as behavioral measures and Event-related Potentials (ERPs), as well as observational methods, such as ambulatory assessment, or free-response tasks.
Emotion and Language. Most of my work investigates emotional expressions beyond simple emotion words. More often, instead of directly stating we are angry, we might use an expressive, send a frowning emoji, or say that we are fuming. Such indirect, or non-literal expressions of emotion often fall through the cracks of traditional emotional language investigations, yet they represent everyday ways of perceiving and expressing emotions in human interaction. I am interested in these forms of emotional expressions, because they reflect how we express, perceive, and manage emotional experiences throughout our everyday lives.
Here are some examples of questions I ask and projects I completed:
Emotion Management via Verbal Irony: Can we use verbal irony to reduce felt negativity? What communicative functions does irony fulfill?
Interplay of Emoji and Language in Text messages: How do facial emojis enrich emotional meaning in text messages?
Socio-emotional meaning in Swear and Taboo language: What is special about swearing? How does swearing change across the lifespan?
Recent publications from this theme:
Pfeifer, V. A. & Pexman, P. M. (2024). When it pays to be insincere: On the benefits of verbal irony. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33(1), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214231205312
Pfeifer, V. A., Mehl, M., & Lai, V. T. (2025). Impact of language background and self-construal on verbal irony interpretation in Spanish-English Bilinguals. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X241313477
Pfeifer, V. A., Armstrong. E. L., & Lai, V. T. (2022). Do all facial emojis communicate emotion? The impact of facial emojis on perceived sender emotion text processing. Computers in Human Behavior, 126, Article 107016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107016
Language in Naturalistic Contexts. In experimental work, we try to control as many aspects of both environment and stimuli as we can, which can limit our ability to generalize findings beyond the lab. To balance this, I care about studying language in its natural habitat, as it is embedded in people’s lives, and expressed naturally. Ambulatory assessment, unstructured data, and observational data allow to investigate not just language itself, but also language behavior as it occurs in its natural habitat, our daily lives.
Here are some examples of questions I ask and projects I completed:
Gender differences in talkativeness: Do men and women differ in the amount of words they speak on a daily basis?
Metaphors in expressive writing: How to breast-cancer patients conceptualize their cancer diagnosis and is their mental health reflected in their metaphor use?
Writer’s characteristics in song lyrics: Do linguistic markers in Brian Wilson’s song lyrics change depending on his mental health?
Recent publications from this theme:
Pfeifer, V. A., Naffah, A. G., & Mehl, M. R. (2025). Feel flows: Language use patterns in the lyrics of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Psychology of Music, Article 03057356251342808. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356251342808
Tidwell, C. A.*, Danvers, A.*, Pfeifer, V.*, Abel, D. B., Alisic, E., Beer, A., Bierstetel, S. J., Bollich-Ziegler, K. L., Bruni, M., Calabrese, W. R., Chiarello, C., Demiray, B., Dimidjian, S., Fingerman, K. L., Haas, M., Kaplan, D. M., Kim, Y. K., Knezevic, G., Lazarevic, L., Luo, M., Manson, J. H., Mascaro, J., Metcalf, C., Minor, K. S., Moseley, S., Polsinelli, A. J., Raison, C. L., Rilling, J., Robbins, M. L., Sbarra, D., Slatcher, R., Sun, J., Vasileva, M., Vazire, S., & Mehl, M. R. (2025). Are women really (not) more talkative than men? A registered replication of binary gender similarities/differences in daily word use. Journal of Social and Personality Psychology. *indicates co-first authorship https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/pspp0000534
Pfeifer, V. A., Weihs, K. L, and Lai, V. T. (2024). Narratives about cancer: What metaphors can tell us about depressive symptoms in breast cancer patients. Health Communication, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2245989