A Must Read: ““The Bias That Makes Innocent Emails Seem Offensive.”

While reading articles on the BBC New website, I found this article in the Worklife section, “The bias that makes innocent emails seem offensive.” The link is https://www.bbc.com/.../20210830-why-emails-often-read.... My immediate response upon reading the opening paragraphs was “Whoa!!”

The article describes what it is called “negative intensification bias.” “This bias makes us often read into messages negativity the sender didn’t intend, or exaggerate even a hint of negativity,” according to Theodore E (Ted) Zorn, a professor of organizational communication at Massey University in New Zealand.

Certain features of email increase the likelihood of miscommunication and conflict escalation. Delayed feed back and low social presence—the diminished perception that whoever we are communicating with by email is real and “there,” not only can increase the chances of misunderstanding but reduce our inhibitions against negative feelings or emotions and encourage these feelings or emotions

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Researchers in Australia and New Zealand found that those who receive emails, particular those who work in a climate in which negative communication was common are inclined to “read in” more negativity that can be determined objectively from the message. Context and relationships can influence how much negativity that we may perceive in an email.

This article prompted me to wonder if this kind of bias affected other forms of electronic communication—texting, chat, Facebook posts, likes and other responses, and comments. It struck me that it did. Facebook had a climate in which negative communication is common. This bias could be bleeding over to how we interpret someone else’s behavior on Facebook.

The article also pointed to the need for more face-to-face communication, in person or by video conferencing and voice communication by phone.

It suggested the heavy reliance on email, texting, chat, and Facebook during the past eighteen months due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have negatively impacted relationships. It also suggests that this bias is more than a workplace phenomenon. It is likely to affect other areas of our life.