The Many Minds Problem: Disclosure in Dyadic vs. Group Conversation

Gus  Cooney; Adam M.  Mastroianni; Nicole  Abi-Esber; Alison Wood  Brooks

Article | Current Opinion in Psychology | February 2020

The Many Minds Problem: Disclosure in Dyadic vs. Group Conversation

by Gus Cooney, Adam M. Mastroianni, Nicole Abi-Esber and Alison Wood Brooks

Abstract

What causes people to disclose their preferences or withhold them? Declare their love for each other or keep it a secret? Gossip with a coworker or bite one’s tongue? We argue that to understand disclosure, we need to understand a critical and often overlooked aspect of human conversation: group size. Increasing the number of people in a conversation creates systematic challenges for speakers and listeners, a phenomenon we call the many minds problem. Here, we review the substantial implications that group size is likely to have on how much people disclose, what they disclose, and how they feel about it.

Keywords: disclosure; Interpersonal Communication; Behavior;

Format: Print

Read Now

Citation:

Cooney, Gus, Adam M. Mastroianni, Nicole Abi-Esber, and Alison Wood Brooks. "The Many Minds Problem: Disclosure in Dyadic vs. Group Conversation." Special Issue on Privacy and Disclosure, Online and in Social Interactions edited by L. John, D. Tamir, M. Slepian. Current Opinion in Psychology 31 (February 2020): 22–27.

In 2015, Amit Bendov was struck by a realization about a new technology that might be able to transcribe musical notation in real-time, which eventually became known as Gong. Gong’s business proposition was simple: provide software that automatically captures, understands, and analyzes written and spoken sales conversations (not music) to help sales teams sell more effectively. It was a compelling idea with the potential to create significant value for its users. There were, however, many questions. Could the technology live up to its promises? What could salespeople learn from their own conversations and from the best - and worst - salespeople among them? Could leveraging conversational insights make a measurable impact on a company’s bottom line? And how could Gong defend against competitors, both now and in the future?

Humor is widely considered essential in personal relationships, but in leaders, it’s seen as an ancillary behavior. Though some leaders use humor instinctively, many more could wield it purposefully. Humor helps build interpersonal trust and high-quality work relationships and influences behaviors and attitudes that matter to leadership effectiveness, including employee performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and creativity.
These benefits don’t come without potential costs. The guidelines in this article suggest ways to capture the benefits of humor while avoiding the downside risks.

Faculty & Research

The Many Minds Problem: Disclosure in Dyadic vs. Group Conversation

Abstract

Citation:

About the Authors

More from these Authors