Conversations that Bond: Listening and Learning in Dyads

In this symposium, several leading scholars in the field will share their work that start to unpack the heuristics and biases that arise in the midst of these difficult conversations. Conversations are a wide and rich topic, and the authors here combine conceptual frameworks to present an integrative picture of cutting-edge research on conversational dynamics, and how people learn about each other during conversation. Each paper focuses on a particular conversational phenomenon, from both a descriptive and a prescriptive perspective. The research in this symposium harnesses a wide variety of experimental and observational methods to observe complex, naturalistic conversations in fine detail, and establishes benchmarks to evaluate the success of conversational goal pursuit. The first two paper starts small, by focusing on the judgments and decisions that occur during the conversation itself. The first paper addresses questions about the most basic building block of conversation: listening. How (and how well) can people detect one another’s listening? The second paper addresses questions about one common consequence of listening: learning. How (and how well) do people learn about each other’s preferences for conversation topics? The third and fourth papers focus on the longer-term impacts of conversations, and how they impact the judgements and decisions that form the building blocks of relationships. The third paper addresses questions about trust in relationships. How (and how well) can we signal trust to other people using language? Finally, the fourth paper addresses questions about similarity in relationships. How (and how well) can we judge other people’s preferences for similar others?