Abstract
Communication is typically considered to be guided by principles of cooperation, requiring the consideration of the communication partner's mental states for its success. Miscommunication, in turn, is considered a product of noise and random error. I argue that communication proceeds in a relatively egocentric manner, with addressees routinely interpreting what speakers say from their own perspective, and speakers disambiguating their utterances with little consideration to the mental states of their addressees. Speakers also tend to overestimate how effective they are, believing that their message is understood more often than it really is. Together, these findings suggest a systematic cause for miscommunication.
About the author
Boaz Keysar is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He earned his B.A. from the Hebrew University in 1985, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1989. His research centers on the psychology of thinking and communication. Dr. Keysar's honors and awards include a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, National Institute of Mental Health research grants, a United-States Israel Binational Science Foundation research grant, and a Fulbright Scholarship.
© Walter de Gruyter
