What is the Harvard Pause really called?

June 17, 2006 5:06 AM

What is the real name for the social phenomenon my wife and I call the "Harvard Pause"?

Situation: You are at a party, everyone is talking in small groups (with wine and cheese, of course). The din is notable, and people speak up to talk over it. About every 20 minutes (we think it is 20) the din drops dramatically for about 30 seconds to the point where it is noticed by everyone, then picks up again.

We both remember being told about the phenomenon as something that was studied by a Harvard professor and was called thusly the "Harvard Pause". I can't find any reference to it anywhere. Google-fu -- failing. Wikipedia-fu -- failing.

We are both starting to think we made it up. Any pointers would be appreciated.

posted by jshelus to Society & Culture (25 answers total)

Don't be silly. That's what happens when Abraham Lincoln's ghost walks into a room. At least that's what we all told each other when we were kids.

Or, more appropriately, I'm betting it's one of those phenomena that's going to have almost as many different names or explanations as people you ask
posted by ferociouskitty at 5:11 AM on June 17, 2006

I've always heard that the delay between pauses is equal to around one minute for every person in the room (20 minutes between pauses if there are 20 people in the room).
posted by richmondparker at 5:31 AM on June 17, 2006

There was something about this in one of Jay Ingram's books, I believe.

(I think) he hypothesized that the noise level at a party randomly goes up and down, and when it goes down to a certain level we subconsciously pick up on it as a signal to be quiet because something's happening, and so the noise level drops further.
posted by Jeanne at 5:34 AM on June 17, 2006

Reminds me of small world networks and Duncan Watts' work (scroll down, search for "crickets"). The "real name" would be (for the time being) "synchronization of biological oscillators". See his papers for other keywords: e.g. contagion, cascades.
posted by MzB at 6:01 AM on June 17, 2006

I call it the "Oh,-I-went-to-school-in-Boston pause."

It's often followed by the "You-mean-Harvard? pause."
posted by Alt F4 at 6:22 AM on June 17, 2006

I remember reading somewhere that it goes back to when we were still being hunted by various predators. The pause allows the group to check (listen?) for attacking predators. Sensing no danger, the activity continues.
Of course, actually finding where I read this is a challenge in itself.
posted by defcom1 at 6:25 AM on June 17, 2006

Its basically a partner to the herd affect. Ever go to the grocery store, and find that you are NEVER the only person in the aisle for longer then 3 minutes? People feel compelled to follow. Test it next time. You will find that the first person that cruises into the aisle merely gazes at the products on the shelves, but never takes anything. They will then leave the aisle. Strange but true.
posted by peglam at 6:40 AM on June 17, 2006

I remember reading somewhere that there's a converstaional lull every seven minutes in smaller groups. Perhaps the twenty minute gap is the coinciding of all the lulls, in larger groups?
posted by goo at 6:55 AM on June 17, 2006

Every now and again, people will stop talking at the same time, just by accident. The more people there are, the less often this is likely to happen; but when it does, it self-reinforces (as Jeanne mentioned).

The every-twenty-minutes or every-seven-minutes rules are urban myths perpetuated by confirmation bias.
posted by flabdablet at 7:10 AM on June 17, 2006

A variation to this that I heard from a friend is that (supposedly!) whether you're in a classroom, bar, restaurant, whatever, when there's a sudden quiet in the room, if you look at a clock it will always be either 20 past or 20 to the hour!
Sounds a bit barmy to me, but maybe it has something to do with what you're talking about!
posted by schmoo at 7:15 AM on June 17, 2006

Someone farts every 20 minutes in any small group.
posted by fourcheesemac at 7:40 AM on June 17, 2006

It sounds similar to the studies on clapping patterns, which might be of interest if I could find any to link to.
posted by klangklangston at 7:53 AM on June 17, 2006

I also heard of this phenomenon, but as a seven-minute interval. For some reason this idea took such root with my siblings and me that whenever there was a lull in a conversation going on around the family dinner table one of us would invariably declare into the silence, "Seven minute pause!"
posted by hazelshade at 8:45 AM on June 17, 2006

I call it the "Oh,-I-went-to-school-in-Boston pause."

It's often followed by the "You-mean-Harvard? pause."

Which is often followed by the "No-I'm-an-engineer,-and-also-an-Engineer." pause
posted by spaceman_spiff at 8:50 AM on June 17, 2006

flabablet is right, or exactly what I was going to say. It would be interesting to see some probability tables about this though. In two person conversations the pause will happen all the time and I have a feeling it happens in a non-linear fashion, with the chance of it happening in a stadium something that it would be one of those ten-sigma events.
posted by geoff. at 9:33 AM on June 17, 2006

I've heard this phenomenon referred to as a "pregnant pause." As in, the pause gives birth to a new conversation. Its an oddly fascinating occurrence when it happens.
posted by tev at 11:51 AM on June 17, 2006

I call it the "Oh,-I-went-to-school-in-Boston pause."

It's often followed by the "You-mean-Harvard? pause."

Most people who went to Harvard would never say they "went to school in Boston," as Harvard is, of course, in Cambridge, and quite proud of it.
posted by cerebus19 at 12:01 PM on June 17, 2006

Is it possible that somewhere along the way, "harmonic" was confused with "Harvard"? I've never heard of either term, but "harmonic pause" would make much more sense if it described the cyclical coincidence of the lulls in conversations across the entire room.
posted by randomstriker at 12:11 PM on June 17, 2006

Most people who went to Harvard would never say they "went to school in Boston," as Harvard is, of course, in Cambridge, and quite proud of it.

My sister went to Harvard and she says she "went to school in Boston" all the time.
posted by scody at 1:07 PM on June 17, 2006

"Pregnant pause" usually means something else -- one of those silences full of ("pregant with") possibility or unspoken meaning, which almost seems like it would have to occur in the middle of a conversation. If a conversation has ended, or hasn't started yet, the silence can't have all that much meaning.

A silence empty of meaning would almost seem to be a post-partum pause. :-)

And most people I know who went to Harvard say they went to school in Boston when they're trying to avoid saying "Harvard." "Cambridge" is too loaded, since the only choices are Harvard or MIT, so you might as well name the school at that point.
posted by occhiblu at 1:08 PM on June 17, 2006

occhiblu - yep, exactly. Saying "I went to Harvard" carries a certain weight that has the potential to derail a conversation, and so to avoid it she'll just opt for "in Boston" when she wants to sidestep any potential "oooh, HARVARD" follow-up. If she's actually in a converation in which her having gone to Harvard is relevant, she'll say Harvard and bypass naming Cambridge entirely. Also, saying "I went to school in Cambridge" can potentially be misunderstood as "I went to school at Cambridge," which is of course an entirely different kettle of fish.
posted by scody at 1:18 PM on June 17, 2006

he hypothesized that the noise level at a party randomly goes up and down, and when it goes down to a certain level we subconsciously pick up on it as a signal to be quiet because something's happening, and so the noise level drops further.

That is very interesting - very sophisticated, but satisfyingly simple.

remember reading somewhere that it goes back to when we were still being hunted by various predators. The pause allows the group to check (listen?) for attacking predators.

See, that is perfect.. Exactly how I envision evolution - and most design, really - working. The reason for the silence and the usefulness of the silence don't have to be correlated initially. If there is a synergy to exploit, it will eventually be exploited, sometimes in subtle and barely detectable ways. For example, there are all kinds of factors that limit human group sizes, this may be just one more.
Also, the parallel between that 'design' argument and the hypothesis about silences is pretty cool!

but "harmonic pause" would make much more sense if it described the cyclical coincidence of the lulls in conversations across the entire room.

Nah, that would be cyclic pause, unless you can suggest a mechanism that generates the harmonics :P
posted by Chuckles at 3:14 PM on June 17, 2006

I've heard it called a "Lull".
posted by shanevsevil at 8:14 PM on June 17, 2006

I've only heard it described as (I'm sorry) "an angel passing." I vastly prefer Abraham Lincoln's ghost.

scody and occhiblu, I've been suffering a bit from the "Cambridge? Oh, you mean Cambridge!" phenomenon when asked about my grad school prospects. As scody says, it can all too easily de-rail a conversation.
posted by Elsa at 7:27 AM on June 18, 2006

I immediately thought "awkward silence," though upon review of the other responses, perhaps my contribution is only a subset of the phenomena to which you refer.

My recollection is that it was the exact moment that, when on the bus in junior high, you'd yell something mortifying to a friend that everyone would subsequently hear.
posted by penchant at 10:05 PM on June 18, 2006