“In the last 24 years, Mr. Gottman and his colleagues have recorded thousands of such conversations, using careful techniques to measure and notate the participants’ emotions each step of the way. After Angie and Dave’s talk, Mr. Gottman says, his assistants reviewed a videotape, scoring each sentence and facial expression on such measures as disgust (-3), affection (+4), whining (-1), and contempt (-4). (Angie’s grimace as she said ‘The bills aren’t the issue’ was scored as contempt.)” David Glenn on the work of John M. Gottman.

—Every Unhappy Family Has Its Own Bilinear Influence FunctionChronicle)

This sounds like it could translate well into conversation-generating subroutines for NPCs in computer games.