Why do we find silences during conversation awkward/uncomfortable

enfieldacademy
Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:30:19 +0000

awkwardness inculcates us with a fear of the silence, ensuring we keep the interaction going even if we don’t have anything meaningful to contribute. This is advantageous to certain animals with relatively developed (but still inferior to us) communicative abilities that live in environments (societies) much less safe than ours.

If two animals come upon each other (say, a pair of elephants on the savanna) it is vital that they avoid pauses, which could translate to perceived hostility. Because they lack the clear language and intelligence we do, it is important they continually affirm their acceptance of one another.

Of course, with more closely related animals (say, two sister elephants, and lets have them in the woods this time) feelings of awkwardness aren’t as necessary. Silences between family members won’t trigger the red flags that they would between strangers. The sister elephants in the solitude of the forest have no reason to fear each other, and so no reason to be impelled to investigate (by communicating) if they should be afraid of each other or not.