Akademik

n.

One side of a two-person conversation. [Blend of half and dialogue.]

As I noted in this post on curiosity, we are especially drawn to gaps in information. (This is known as the "information gap" theory of curiosity, and was first described by George Loewenstein in the early 90s.) In this new study, the Cornell psychologists build on the "information gap" model. They demonstrated, for instance, that subjects listening to only one side of a conversation — what they call a "halfalogue" — showed decreased performance on a range of cognitive tasks that require undivided attention.

—Jonah Lehrer, " The Science of Eavesdropping: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/the-science-of-eavesdropping," Wired Science, September 10, 2010

They completed these attention-requiring tasks while the researchers randomly played a recording of a two-person dialogue, a one-person monologue or a halfalogue. Researchers controlled the volume and told the participants to ignore the sounds and just concentrate on the assignment. At other times, no recording was played and the tasks were done in silence. The researchers found that performance was lowest — as determined by missed responses, incorrect hits and other mistakes — when the halfalogues were being played.

—Leslie Tamura, " Report: Overheard cellphone conversations are incomplete, unpredictable distractions: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/04/AR2010100405837.html," The Washington Post, October 5, 2010

"We have less control to move away our attention from half a conversation (or halfalogue) than when listening to a dialogue," said Lauren Emberson, a co-author of the study that will be published in the journal Psychological Science. "Since halfalogues really are more distracting and you can't tune them out, this could explain why people are irritated," she said in an interview.

—Walker Simon, " Annoyed by cellphones? Scientists explain why: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64J49720100520," Reuters, May 20, 2010

This commonly results in the eavesdropoper's imagination filling in what they suspect to be the subject matter of the other half of what should be a dialogue. Reputations and relationships can be ruined in this way, as the eavesdropper, already having a guilty conscience himself, projects that negativity into the half-conversation and often fills in subject matter implying both parties are up to no good!