Humans are wired for collaboration. We focus on social tasks for learning. A study comparing toddlers to non-human primates confirms that our brains engage more deeply when we collaborate.
Solo podcasters often make the mistake of talking at their audience. You can fix this by using language that creates a shared mental space. Phrases like “you know that feeling when” invite the listener to retrieve their own experience. This concept is called joint attention. It allows your listener to co-create meaning with you rather than just receiving information.
In this micro-episode:
- The evolutionary basis for collaborative learning
- How to turn a monologue into a shared mental space
- Using “joint attention” to increase listener retention
Resources:
Joint attention: https://www.eva.mpg.de/documents/Wiley-Blackwell/Tomasello_Cooperation_ChildDevPerspec_2007_1554866.pdf
Find more episodes and subscribe at stereoforest.com/minute.
Transcript
WEBVTT
::So us humans are the species that are really good at collaboration. We focus on it for learning tasks. And
this sounds pretty wild, but a psychologist in Evolution Studies published a study that showed this. It
compared toddlers to non-human primates. I'll add a link to the study so you can check it out. But the social
tasks for learning scored a whole lot higher in the toddlers, although intelligence was roughly the same
across all the time.
::all of the study subjects. Now, our contacts and scenarios where this might apply to podcasting in
particular and its many flavors can differ, of course, but those of us who are creating content where we're
talking at an audience, kind of like what I'm doing right now, we can make use of this concept. And the
concept really boils down to mostly the types of phrases and words we use, like in our notes, our script, and
our regular vernacular.
::So when you create a solo podcast without a host with no guests, we're typically talking at them. But that
research we just considered at the top of this episode suggests that human brains are wired to engage more
deeply when we feel like we're collaborating with someone else. So even in a solo podcast, you can trigger
this psychology for your listener. And you do it by framing your content as something you and your
::are like figuring out together. You use language that creates this shared mental space. So the phrase like
you know that feeling when kind of does this. You're inviting the listener to retrieve their own
experience and then we're both holding the same general idea or concept in our minds. And that represents
what's called joint attention and it serves as the foundation of this shared intent.
::You're sharing your I experiences, but you're relating them to the
::person listening to you through using this sort of collaborative language. So your listener is
::co-creating that meaning with you rather than just receiving information kind of
::descending on them from the voice in their ears. So the research says this is how human cognition really
evolved. So when you lean into it, you're working with that, how our brains actually process.
::I'm Jen DeHaan. This is the Credibility Minute.
::You can find more episodes and get in touch with me at StereoForest.com slash minute.