Spoken disagreement is more constructive than written disagreement
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Bevis, Burint
Schroeder, Juliana
Yeomans, Michael
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Amid rising global polarization, finding ways to disagree constructively is vital. This paper examines whether the medium of disagreement—spoken or written—shapes
conversation outcomes. A series of randomized experiments (n = 1,576 conversation partners who had 1,842 conversations; n = 1,432 observers) suggest spoken conversations with a disagreeing counterpart lead to greater understanding, lower conflict, more favorable
impressions of one’s counterpart, and greater attitude alignment than written ones. Across experiments, speech also fostered more conversational receptiveness—cues in language that signal openness to opposing viewpoints—which partly mediates the effects of medium on these constructive disagreement outcomes. The conversation medium further moderated the association between language and outcomes: receptiveness was a stronger predictor of constructive disagreement in writing than in speech, suggesting people use less receptive language in the very medium in which it may be most effective (i.e., the written medium). A final study suggests that people may misjudge the effects of medium, wrongly believing spoken (versus written) disagreement will be less constructive and preferring to write to disagreeing counterparts. Despite people’s erroneous beliefs, spoken conversation offers a
promising path to disagreeing constructively.
conversation outcomes. A series of randomized experiments (n = 1,576 conversation partners who had 1,842 conversations; n = 1,432 observers) suggest spoken conversations with a disagreeing counterpart lead to greater understanding, lower conflict, more favorable
impressions of one’s counterpart, and greater attitude alignment than written ones. Across experiments, speech also fostered more conversational receptiveness—cues in language that signal openness to opposing viewpoints—which partly mediates the effects of medium on these constructive disagreement outcomes. The conversation medium further moderated the association between language and outcomes: receptiveness was a stronger predictor of constructive disagreement in writing than in speech, suggesting people use less receptive language in the very medium in which it may be most effective (i.e., the written medium). A final study suggests that people may misjudge the effects of medium, wrongly believing spoken (versus written) disagreement will be less constructive and preferring to write to disagreeing counterparts. Despite people’s erroneous beliefs, spoken conversation offers a
promising path to disagreeing constructively.
Date Issued
2026-07-03
Date Acceptance
2026-03-24
Citation
Nature Communications, 2026, 17 (1)
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
17
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
©The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view acopyofthislicence, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1038/s41467-026-71669-5
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
5792
Date Publish Online
2026-04-27