Psychological science
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Psychological science · Aug 2012
Coming to terms: quantifying the benefits of linguistic coordination.
Sharing a public language facilitates particularly efficient forms of joint perception and action by giving interlocutors refined tools for directing attention and aligning conceptual models and action. We hypothesized that interlocutors who flexibly align their linguistic practices and converge on a shared language will improve their cooperative performance on joint tasks. To test this prediction, we employed a novel experimental design, in which pairs of participants cooperated linguistically to solve a perceptual task. ⋯ However, although general linguistic alignment did not have a positive effect on performance, the alignment of particular task-relevant vocabularies strongly correlated with collective performance. In other words, the more dyad members selectively aligned linguistic tools fit for the task, the better they performed. Our work thus uncovers the interplay between social dynamics and sensitivity to task affordances in successful cooperation.
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Psychological science · Aug 2012
Retraction Of PublicationRetraction of "Construing collective concerns: increasing cooperation by broadening construals in social dilemmas".
The following article has been retracted by the Editor and publishers of Psychological Science at the request of the lead author, Lawrence J. Sanna: Sanna, L. J., Chang, E. ⋯ Dr. Sanna replied by noting with regret that "research errors" have made it necessary for him to request retraction. The letter concluded with the following: "At the direction of legal counsel, I am unable to say anything further than that contained in my previous letter at this time." Because it is unclear when, if ever, details on these research errors will be forthcoming, the Editor owes it to the journal's readership to retract the article now, even though this notice does not reflect COPE guidelines or journal policy.