Guillermo Del Pinal, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Strategic communicators and asymmetry effects in generic and quantified generalizations 

(This talk is based on a joint work with Eleonore Neufeld (UMass Amherst) and Kevin Reuter (Zurich))

Abstract: Generic statements (`Sharks are dangerous') are pervasive and developmentally early-emerging modes of generalization with a distinctive linguistic profile. Previous work in philosophy and psychology argues that generics display a unique asymmetry between the prevalence levels required to accept them and the prevalence levels typically implied by their use. Various influential philosophers and psychologists argue that this unique asymmetry effect has serious social consequences: if speakers use socially problematic generics based on prevalence levels that are systematically lower than what is typically inferred by their recipients, using generics will likely exacerbate social stereotypes and biases. In this talk, I will present theoretical and experimental evidence against the hypothesis that the asymmetry effect is unique to generics, showing that various other explicitly quantified sentences display a similar effect. I will also argue against the moving too quickly from generalized asymmetry effects to the conclusion that those effects likely/significantly exacerbate social biases. In contrast to the naive speaker model typically assumed in this literature—according to which speakers choose generalizing sentences early insensitive to the pragmatic information that their typical recipients are likely to infer from  them---I will also present theoretical and experimental evidence that speakers are strategic in their choices of generalizing sentences. In neutral and cooperative scenarios, speakers reliably choose generalizing sentences whose implied prevalence levels closely matches the actual ones. In non-cooperative scenarios, speakers exploit asymmetry effects to further their own goals by choosing generalizing sentences that are strictly true but likely to mislead their recipients. The goal of this discussion is to refine our understanding of the source and nature of asymmetry effects and the specific structural conditions under which such effects may be exploited to introduce biased beliefs into social networks.

Discussion Club is a lecture series hosted by the Sage School of Philosophy