Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42090517›Full record

ArticleScience advances2026

Ousiometrics: The essence of meaning aligns with a power-danger-structure framework instead of valence-arousal-dominance.

Peter Sheridan Dodds, Thayer Alshaabi, Mikaela Irene Fudolig, Julia Witte Zimmerman, Juniper Lovato, Shawn Beaulieu, Joshua R Minot, Michael V Arnold, Andrew J Reagan, Christopher M Danforth

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Peter Sheridan DoddsComputational Story Lab, Vermont Advanced Computing Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1973-8614
Thayer AlshaabiHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8971-4434
Mikaela Irene FudoligSchool of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
Julia Witte ZimmermanComputational Story Lab, Vermont Advanced Computing Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1910-8030
Juniper LovatoVermont Complex Systems Institute, MassMutual Center of Excellence for Complex Systems and Data Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1619-7552
Shawn BeaulieuVermont Complex Systems Institute, MassMutual Center of Excellence for Complex Systems and Data Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Joshua R MinotMassMutual Data Science, Amherst, MA 01002, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6244-8586
Michael V ArnoldComputational Story Lab, Vermont Advanced Computing Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1218-0315
Andrew J ReaganMassMutual Data Science, Amherst, MA 01002, USA.
Christopher M DanforthComputational Story Lab, Vermont Advanced Computing Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9857-2845

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

From work emerging through the middle of the 20th century, the essence of meaning has become widely accepted as being described by the three orthogonal dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. These essential dimensions have become the cornerstone of sentiment analysis across many fields. By reexamining first types and then tokens for the English language, and through the use of automatically annotated histograms-"ousiograms"-we find here that the essence of meaning conveyed by words is instead best described by a goodness-power-aggression-danger-structure (GPADS) circumplex framework; that large-scale English language corpora reveal a systematic bias toward safe, low-danger words; and that the power-danger-structure framework is the minimal framework that represents essential meaning. We find remarkable congruences between the GPADS framework and other spaces including mental states and fictional archetypes, and we construct and demonstrate a prototype ousiometer.

Indexed as

ArousalHumansLanguage

Identifiers

PMID42090517
PMCPMC13148342

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.