From the author: The series “Funny Stories” The story of how we hear, perceive and transmit information. Once, when I, together with a colleague, was conducting a training on relationship research, one of the participants complained that he had an unpleasant incident at work. He talked to a colleague in the presence of other people, and then he found out what this conversation turned into, how far it was from what he and the colleague actually said. In addition, the metamorphoses of the conversation were clearly not in favor of the participant, and he felt very offended. After discussing the situation, I proposed conducting a small experiment-game known to many psychologists - “Broken Phone”. The essence of the experiment is as follows. The coach and one volunteer participant remain in the office. The rest go out the door. The trainer tells a story to that participant, then someone from the rest of the group comes in, and the first participant tells the story to the one who entered. He asks questions first if he wants to clarify something. Then a third one comes in and the second one tells him the story. And so on until all participants gather again in the office. The first few participants usually have the pleasure of observing the metamorphoses of history from beginning to end. So, I told this story to the first participant when we were left alone in the office: “The head of one of the enterprises, Ivan Ivanovich, was late at the conference, called his secretary and asked to convey his wife, who should call soon, the following information: I’m late at work, I’ll stop by to buy flowers on the way. Let's meet near the cafe, and we'll wait for your mom there. Don’t forget to walk our favorite dog Jack, scratch him for me and tell him that his owner misses him.” The first participant accurately conveyed the information to the second, the second had no questions. The second participant slightly distorted the information when transmitting it to the third, but not significantly. I was already scared, what if the story would be retold as a whole correctly in meaning, and the experiment would fail. But after about five or six participants, more serious metamorphoses began: - In general, the director says to his secretary: “My wife will call, you don’t mind her.” don't say I'm here at work. Let him go for a walk with Jack. “You and I will first go to a cafe, I’ll buy you some flowers, and then I’ll go meet my mother-in-law at the station,” Sasha told Artem with enthusiasm. “And who is Jack?” - Artem didn’t understand. “Well, this is an arrogant, smelly dog ​​that everyone is pretty tired of,” Sasha answered without hesitation, as if it were his dog... Next, a woman of about 45 named Olga entered the office, and this is what she heard from Artem: “In short, the man doesn’t want to go home, his wife has bothered everyone with her stinking dogs, and then his mother-in-law comes. Well, in general, out of grief, the man decided to give his secretary flowers and go with her to a cafe to unwind. Olga, having listened, raised her eyebrows in surprise, chuckled disapprovingly and told Igor, who came in, how it was: “These guys are all like that, no one knows where they are.” , just not to be at home, with all sorts of young secret girls, and a woman, out of loneliness, has to get dogs. It’s good that mom sometimes comes to visit. At least there’s something to do.” - What is she doing? – Igor asked incredulously. “What else can a woman do - a hairdresser, a beauty salon, shopping, fitness - you have to take care of yourself, otherwise the secret lady will finally take her husband away!” – Olga responded emotionally. - And of course, you also need to think about the dog Jack, and what to cook for dinner at home, the household is big. Igor told Natalya: “They told me this story: while a man works day and night, trying to earn more, his wife spends his money on himself, Jack, and his mother constantly invites him to visit.” I no longer remember all the details of this wonderful joint story, and how it happened that the husband became the director of the winery, that the wife and her dog Jack had their hair cut at the hairdresser and went shopping and.