#531 Kyle Thomas: The Psychology of Common Knowledge
RECORDED ON JUNE 23rd 2021.
Dr. Kyle Thomas recently received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Harvard University, where he developed his research program on the psychology of common knowledge under his advisor, Steven Pinker. He is currently the Chief Scientist at MotiveMetrics, where they turn cutting-edge psychological science into software tools that can accurately reveal true motivations from publicly available data. In short, they help marketers understand why people buy—or don’t—at the click of a button. Software hasn’t eaten marketing research yet, but they’re working very hard to change that.
In this episode, we talk about common knowledge. We start with some basic definitions of private knowledge, shared knowledge, and common knowledge. We then get into some examples of domains where common knowledge applies, like economic games, self-conscious emotions, charitable behavior, the bystander effect, and indirect speech.
Time Links:
Intro
Private knowledge, shared knowledge, and common knowledge
Social phenomena we can understand better through the lens of common knowledge
Self-conscious emotions
Charitable behavior
The bystander effect
Indirect speech, and its functions
The applications of common knowledge
Follow Dr. Thomas’ work!
Follow Dr. Thomas’ work:
Website: https://bit.ly/3an4rAV
MotiveMetrics: https://bit.ly/2SJ45Ov
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/2SHaObC
Twitter handle: @surfkt