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When can a confident delivery outrun the evidence behind it?

Someone can sound certain without being especially accurate. Advice-taking experiments can separate how confident an adviser appears from how reliably that confidence tracks correct answers, making trust more complicated than delivery alone.

3–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • How could a listener learn whether a person’s confidence is informative?

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Communication

Why can the same pause mean different things?

A pause after a difficult question can sound thoughtful. A pause after a joke can feel like rejection. Silence has no words, yet we interpret it against the response we expected and the relationship we think we have.

4–6 min

Why can the same pause mean different things?

Communication4–6 minA pause after a difficult question can sound thoughtful. A pause after a joke can feel like rejection. Silence has no words, yet we interpret it against the response we expected and the relationship we think we have.

Communication

Could we leave a warning that survives 10,000 years?

Imagine making a warning for people whose language and symbols you cannot predict. The object must survive, someone must find it, and its meaning must still be recognizable. A Sandia report on nuclear-waste markers treats those as separate design problems, rather than assuming a durable sign will stay understandable.

3–7 min

Could we leave a warning that survives 10,000 years?

Communication3–7 minImagine making a warning for people whose language and symbols you cannot predict. The object must survive, someone must find it, and its meaning must still be recognizable. A Sandia report on nuclear-waste markers treats those as separate design problems, rather than assuming a durable sign will stay understandable.

Communication

What can your hands say that your sentence leaves out?

Someone says an object was “this big,” and their hands supply the missing dimensions. Gestures can also convey ideas that differ from the accompanying words. In one study of children explaining math problems, researchers examined what adults did with those additional clues.

3–7 min

What can your hands say that your sentence leaves out?

Communication3–7 minSomeone says an object was “this big,” and their hands supply the missing dimensions. Gestures can also convey ideas that differ from the accompanying words. In one study of children explaining math problems, researchers examined what adults did with those additional clues.

When can a confident delivery outrun the evidence behind it? | Speech Topic | speaking.app