Addressee Backchannels Can Bias Third-Party Memory and Judgment.

Information about audiences influence how speakers produce\nmessages, biasing speakers’ own later recall (Higgins & Rholes,\n1978), contingent on the creation of a shared reality between\ninterlocutors (Echterhoff, Higgins, & Rholes, 2005). We tested for\na similar effect within third party dialogue comprehension, in\nwhich overheard addressees displayed evaluative backchannel\nresponses. Participants observed an interaction containing valenceambiguous\npersonal information, and were later asked to recall the\ninformation and make related judgments. Addressees either\nresponded positively or negatively to the speaker’s description.\nAcross three experiments, we found that addressee responses\nbiased recall when the responses were cues to a shared perspective,\neither due to the collaborative construction of the talk or prior\nshared knowledge between speaker and addressee. Addressee\nresponses as cues to the addressee’s stance alone did not bias\noverhearer recall. These findings support the argument that\nperception of a shared reality is a central component of dialogue\ncomprehension.