The closeness-communication bias: Increased egocentrism among friends versus strangers
Savitsky, Keysar, Epley, Carter and Swanson report three experiments. In the first, participants who followed directions from a friend made more egocentric errors, looking at and reaching for an object only they could see, than those who followed a stranger's directions. In two more, participants conveying meanings with ambiguous phrases overestimated their success more with a friend or spouse than with a stranger. The authors propose that people monitor strangers' perspectives actively and relax that monitoring with friends. Participants were University of Chicago undergraduates in the first experiment, 60 Williams College students in friend pairs in the second and 24 married couples in the third. The authors state that the findings do not show friendship hinders communication.
Savitsky, Keysar, Epley, Carter and Swanson report three experiments. In the first, participants who followed directions from a friend made more egocentric errors, looking at and reaching for an object only they could see, than those who followed a stranger's directions. In two more, participants conveying meanings with ambiguous phrases overestimated their success more with a friend or spouse than with a stranger. The authors propose that people monitor strangers' perspectives actively and relax that monitoring with friends. Participants were University of Chicago undergraduates in the first experiment, 60 Williams College students in friend pairs in the second and 24 married couples in the third. The authors state that the findings do not show friendship hinders communication.
Written from the full text, authors manuscript on the Wharton faculty site, 2026-10-31.
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Savitsky, K., Keysar, B., Epley, N., Carter, T., & Swanson, A. (2011). The closeness-communication bias: Increased egocentrism among friends versus strangers. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(1), 269-273. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.09.005 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.09.005