The Role of Mentalizing in Communication Behaviors

Communication is a fundamental ability of humans, and much of our daily energy is used in producing, sharing, receiving, and understanding information and messages. As part of our capacities as information communicators and receivers, we often infer and evaluate the mental states of those people with whom we are interacting. Here we describe research from social psychology, communication, behavioral economics, and neuroscience that highlights the role of mentalizing in communication and decision-making more broadly. In this chapter, we give particular focus to the neuroscientific evidence, which shows that the mentalizing network, a set of cortical brain regions thought to preferentially process social information, is commonly activated by communicators and audiences, and facilitates successful information transfer between communicators and receivers. We close with future directions for research in psychology and neuroscience that further elucidates the role of mentalizing in communication and decision-making.