Human language is biased towards safety, major study reveals, challenging 70-year scientific consensus
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Jun-2026 11:15 ET (21-Jun-2026 15:15 GMT/UTC)
A new study challenges one of the most widely accepted ideas in psychology and linguistics: that the meaning of words is fundamentally organized around expressing emotion. Instead, a team of scientists at the University of Vermont have looked at the use of billions of words and discovered that language is structured by something deeper—and more consequential: the need for safety and survival.
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