@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {10356},
      author = {Atir, Stav and Wald, Kristina A. and Epley, Nicholas},
      title = {Talking with strangers is surprisingly informative},
      journal = {PNAS},
      address = {2022-08-16},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {A meaningful amount of people’s knowledge comes from their  conversations with others. The amount people expect to  learn predicts their interest in having a conversation  (pretests 1 and 2), suggesting that the presumed  information value of conversations guides decisions of whom  to talk with. The results of seven experiments, however,  suggest that people may systematically underestimate the  informational benefit of conversation, creating a barrier  to talking with—and hence learning from—others in daily  life. Participants who were asked to talk with another  person expected to learn significantly less from the  conversation than they actually reported learning  afterward, regardless of whether they had conversation  prompts and whether they had the goal to learn (experiments  1 and 2). Undervaluing conversation does not stem from  having systematically poor opinions of how much others know  (experiment 3) but is instead related to the inherent  uncertainty involved in conversation itself. Consequently,  people underestimate learning to a lesser extent when  uncertainty is reduced, as in a nonsocial context (surfing  the web, experiment 4); when talking to an acquainted  conversation partner (experiment 5); and after knowing the  content of the conversation (experiment 6). Underestimating  learning in conversation is distinct from underestimating  other positive qualities in conversation, such as enjoyment  (experiment 7). Misunderstanding how much can be learned in  conversation could keep people from learning from others in  daily life.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/10356},
}