Age Differences in Endorsement of Collectivistic and Individualistic Language Influence Judgments of Electability and Performance

This study examined age differences in individualistic and collectivistic language use and their relationships with perceptions of performance and electability. Older adults used more “we”-language; young adults used more emotional and “I”-language. Greater “I”-language use was associated with worse perceptions, but “we”-language was not significantly associated with judgments.