Freedom fighter or terrorist?

Russell conjugation, or emotive conjugation, refers to the ability of different words that effectively describe the same thing to elicit very different emotions.

The concept was described by mathematician Bertrand Russell in 1948 with the following examples:

I am firm, you are obstinate, he is a pig-headed fool.

I am righteously indignant, you are annoyed, he is making a fuss over nothing.

I have reconsidered the matter, you have changed your mind, he has gone back on his word.

The impact of this is immense. The pollster Frank Luntz discovered that people would form their opinions solely on the Russell conjugation and not on the facts themselves. The specific words mattered more than the actual facts.

It’s a technique worth keeping in mind when it comes to any form of persuasion. For example, when consuming news, think about the emotion you’re feeling and the conclusion you’re reaching. No news source is truly objective, so analyze how the platform is using words to convey certain feelings or conclusions. And conversely when persuading consider the specific words you use because different words elicit different emotions, and those words can work towards your goal or against it.

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