> in this format...
and we didn't really care, we would probably defend the misquotation (unless we explicitly remember what we actually said.)
when was the last time you said: "If I said that, I was completely wrong: I feel the opposite on this matter."
that would leave someone looking like someone completely unreliable whose opinion shouldn't matter in the slightest. no shit people don't want to be that person and will protect what they think people believe they have said.
you could show this with a second study, in which people are asked to defend a statement others heard them make, but where the defendend KNOWS that what the other HEARD is not what they SAID. It's easier and probably in many cases will happen, that you defend what you know the other person thought you had said.
THIS IS WHY "DISRUPTIVE LISTENING" (sorry, I don't remembe rthe correct word at the moment, the meaning is "actively pretending to hear something else") WORKS SO WELL.
In other words. If you are told, "There is no way we can ever be interested", and you repeat to the caller, "so if I understand you you are saying that there is no way you can put it in this month's budget"
then the person will quite likely agree with that statement. You just changed their meaning and yet they will not contradict you.
I wouldn't either.