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The effect of information overlap on communication effectiveness
1Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago.
Cognitive Science
|June 4, 2011
Summary
Sharing more knowledge improves overall communication but can hinder effectiveness when individuals share unique information. High knowledge overlap in communication games led to confusion when unique terms were used.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Psychology
- Communication Studies
Background:
- Effective communication relies on shared understanding and information exchange.
- The impact of varying levels of shared knowledge on communication success is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the degree of knowledge overlap between individuals affects communication effectiveness.
- To determine if increased information sharing universally enhances or can sometimes impede communication.
Main Methods:
- Participants engaged in a communication game, acting as directors and addressees.
- Experimental conditions manipulated knowledge overlap: high (shared names for most objects) versus low (shared names for few objects).
Main Results:
- Pairs with high knowledge overlap used more object names compared to low overlap pairs.
- High overlap directors increased the use of unique names, leading to greater addressee confusion.
- Conversely, low overlap directors demonstrated more effective communication with fewer unique terms.
Conclusions:
- While broad knowledge sharing can benefit communication, it may lead to local ineffectiveness.
- Sharing unique information, even within a high overlap context, can reduce communication efficiency.
- Optimizing communication effectiveness may involve strategic management of shared versus unique information.
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