A model to explain individual differences in the understanding of indirect requests: a reward-based learning perspective

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K17912
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Social psychology; Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: Hirakawa Makoto 広島大学, 教育学研究科, 講師 (50758133)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 間接的発話行為 / 言外の意味 / 間接的要求 / 発話理解 / 社会的報酬に基づく学習 / 社会的罰に基づく学習

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, a model for understanding indirect requests was examined, taking into account the feedback from the speakers.
The core consideration was to examine the relationship between the understanding of indirect requests and learning through social rewards and social punishments. Given the assumption that understanding the meaning of a request is likely to lead to the acquisition of social rewards, I predicted that there would be an association between learning rates and interpretive bias in social reward-based learning situations. However, the results of the study showed that individuals who were more sensitive to social punishment were more likely to judge the meaning of the request as correct in response to ambiguous utterances. It is possible that the interpretation bias to the request is moderated by the negative response to not interpreting it as a request.

Free Research Field

社会心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日常的なコミュニケーションでは、発話のことば通りの意味から、話し手が言いたいことを適切に推論する必要がある。本研究では、話し手のフィードバックが、この推論過程を調整している可能性を検討し、怒り顔を避けるというような、社会的罰に敏感な人ほど、あいまいな発話から要求の意味をくみ取りやすいことを示した。日常的なコミュニケーションの成立の背後にある、意味の推測過程とその影響要因を明らかにすることで、コミュニケーションについての理解が深まることが期待される。