Have you ever received an email that left you puzzled about its tone? Let’s explore why emails can sometimes be difficult to interpret and why people often struggle with writing them effectively.
Every day, approximately 306 billion emails are sent and received worldwide. With such a massive volume of communication, it’s no surprise that misunderstandings occur. But what makes email communication so challenging?
In 1990, a Stanford PhD student named Elizabeth Newton conducted a study known as the “tap test.” Participants were divided into tappers and listeners. Tappers would tap out a rhythm of a song, and listeners had to guess the song. Tappers expected listeners to guess correctly about 50% of the time, but the actual success rate was only 2.5%. This discrepancy is attributed to the “curse of knowledge,” a cognitive bias where individuals assume others have the same background knowledge they do. This bias often affects how we communicate, including in emails.
Egocentrism, the tendency to view things from one’s own perspective, plays a significant role in email miscommunication. When writing an email, the sender has all the context in their mind, but the recipient may perceive it as a series of disconnected thoughts. This can lead to confusion and misinterpretation.
Psychologist Daniel Goleman suggests that emails are often perceived more negatively than intended. If a sender feels positive about an email, the recipient might perceive it as neutral. If the sender feels neutral, the recipient might see it as negative. This negativity bias can lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary stress.
Punctuation can also influence how emails are perceived. Research indicates that text messages ending with a full stop are often seen as less sincere. A study from 2018 found that people born after 1985 are more likely to interpret messages with full stops as negative compared to those born before 1985. This generational difference can impact communication in educational and professional settings.
While it’s easy to criticize confusing emails, it’s important to recognize that effective communication is challenging. Being aware of biases like the curse of knowledge and negativity bias can help improve how we convey messages. Additionally, understanding generational differences in punctuation perception can aid in reducing misunderstandings.
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Gather a collection of real or fictional emails that exhibit common communication issues such as unclear tone, egocentrism, or negativity bias. Work in groups to analyze these emails, identify the problems, and suggest improvements. This activity will help you recognize and address common pitfalls in email communication.
Pair up with a classmate and take turns being the email sender and recipient. Write an email based on a given scenario, then switch roles and interpret the email as the recipient. Discuss how the email could be perceived differently and explore ways to clarify the message. This exercise will enhance your empathy and understanding of different perspectives in communication.
Participate in a workshop where you practice explaining complex topics to someone with no prior knowledge. Use this experience to reflect on how the curse of knowledge might affect your email writing. By simplifying your explanations, you can improve your ability to communicate clearly and effectively.
Conduct an experiment where you send emails with varying tones to a group of peers and ask them to rate the perceived tone. Analyze the results to understand how negativity bias might influence email interpretation. This activity will help you become more aware of how your emails might be perceived by others.
Engage in a debate about the impact of punctuation on email perception, focusing on generational differences. Research studies on this topic and present your findings. This debate will encourage you to consider how punctuation choices can affect communication and how to adapt your writing style for different audiences.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:
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All right, come and take a look at this email. It’s one I received a couple of years ago about something pretty important. Hi, Vanessa. This is a start… we should meet together in person to talk. Now, I want you to rate this: would you say it’s positive, negative, or neutral? Pop your answers down in the comments, and we’ll revisit them shortly.
Every single day, 306 billion emails are sent and received worldwide, which is a lot of data—full inboxes and fingers typing in every corner of the globe. So why are people sometimes bad at writing emails, and why do we occasionally struggle to interpret and read them as well?
Thanks to KiwiCo for sponsoring this video; more about them later.
Now, back in 1990, a Stanford PhD student named Elizabeth Newton designed a simple study called the “tap test.” In this study, people were assigned one of two roles: either tapper or listener. The tapper tapped out a rhythm on a table, and the listener’s job was to guess the song. Let’s try it: I’ll tap, you listen. Do you know the song? In the experiment, the tapper predicted the listener would guess the song correctly 50% of the time. They tapped out 120 songs, so they thought the listeners would guess about 60% of them correctly. But the listeners only guessed three of the songs correctly, which is a success rate of 2.5%.
When you tap out a song, you can’t avoid hearing that song in your head. Once you know it, you can’t unknow it. But to the listener, what they hear is like a bizarre Morse code. This is called the “curse of knowledge” or knowledge bias—a cognitive bias that happens when a person communicating with others incorrectly assumes that others have the same background knowledge. Knowledge bias plays out in many ways on platforms like YouTube.
Assuming that other people know what we know is one of the biggest mistakes we make in communication. We think we’re being super clear, even though we’re not. Scientists believe this has to do with something called egocentrism, which is the inability to see something from someone else’s point of view. When you’re sending an email, you have all of the information and context in your head, but to the other person, it can come across like a series of disconnected taps.
If you’ve ever been confused by an email, the good news is that you’re not alone. I get confused and frustrated by emails all the time. Remember the example from the start of the episode? Did you rate it as negative, positive, or neutral? This response was about a big project I was working on. After I sent what I thought was pretty good work, I received a response that I read as negative. It really caused me to spiral, and I thought I was going to lose the job. But it turns out this email was positive; the person just wanted to meet with me to make a few tweaks to my work and brainstorm for a later stage of the project. They could have been more specific about it, but a lot was lost in translation with my interpretation.
This confusion often stems from our tendency to approach emails with a negativity bias. Psychologist Daniel Goleman has written that if a sender feels positive about an email, the receiver usually feels neutral, and if the sender feels neutral, the receiver typically feels negative. This suggests that every message you send gets perceived as less positive when someone else reads it.
There’s not a ton of published research on negativity bias in digital communication styles, so I wanted to test your perception of punctuation to see if you have a negativity bias towards certain things. The full stop has been singled out as potentially hostile, and research has found that text messages ending in a full stop are often perceived as less sincere. I conducted a survey on Instagram to try to replicate some findings, but most people rated the full stop as neutral rather than less or more sincere.
A lot of you had thoughts about the Instagram poll feature, and even some well-known creators pointed out that it was frustrating. The jury was also out on the full stop being negative, but the majority of people rated the ellipsis as negative. Some described both the full stop and the ellipsis as passive-aggressive or ominous, which somewhat explains the rise in exclamation points to make emails seem more positive but still professional.
Interestingly, your age can influence how punctuation affects your perception of messages. A 2018 study looked at differences in how people born before 1985 interpret messages compared to those born in 1985 or later. Participants read exchanges where some replies contained full stops while others did not. For those born before 1985, it didn’t seem to matter whether the reply had a full stop or not. Younger people, on the other hand, rated messages with full stops as more negative than those without.
This is subtle but important for school or workplace dynamics. If younger people interpret messages from their professors or colleagues as more negative than intended, it can lead to misunderstandings.
It’s easy to be critical of all the confusing messages we receive, but the truth is we’re all a little bit bad at communicating. People often overestimate their ability to convey a message clearly when sending an email. This isn’t an easy problem to fix; we do so much emailing and communicating every single day, and it’s exhausting to do everything with intention. However, being aware of things like the curse of knowledge, negativity bias, and generational punctuation can help improve our communication.
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This version removes any informal language, unnecessary filler words, and maintains a professional tone throughout.
Email – A method of exchanging digital messages over the internet, often used for professional and academic communication. – The professor prefers to communicate with students via email to ensure there is a written record of all correspondence.
Communication – The process of exchanging information, ideas, or feelings between individuals through verbal, non-verbal, or written methods. – Effective communication skills are essential for psychologists to understand and help their clients.
Psychology – The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. – Understanding basic psychology can improve interpersonal communication by providing insights into human behavior.
Bias – A tendency to favor or lean towards a particular perspective, often leading to a distortion in judgment or perception. – Being aware of personal biases is crucial for psychologists to maintain objectivity in their assessments.
Egocentrism – The tendency to focus on oneself and consider one’s own perspective as the most important or valid. – Egocentrism can hinder effective communication, as it may prevent individuals from understanding others’ viewpoints.
Negativity – A tendency to focus on the negative aspects of a situation or to expect unfavorable outcomes. – In communication, negativity can lead to misunderstandings and conflict if not managed properly.
Punctuation – The use of symbols such as periods, commas, and question marks in writing to clarify meaning and indicate pauses or emphasis. – Proper punctuation is essential in written communication to avoid misunderstandings and convey the intended message clearly.
Misunderstandings – Failures to understand or interpret someone’s words or actions correctly, often leading to confusion or conflict. – Misunderstandings in communication can be reduced by providing clear context and asking for clarification when needed.
Context – The circumstances or background information surrounding a particular event, statement, or idea that help to clarify its meaning. – Providing context in communication is crucial for ensuring that the message is understood as intended.
Perception – The process by which individuals interpret and organize sensory information to understand their environment. – In psychology, perception plays a key role in how individuals interpret communication cues and respond to them.
