I don't get why people even bother saying something they won't ever mean it! If you're not planning on doing it, don't bother saying it in the first place!! Full of shit!
social protocols? Just like when you ask people in passing "How are you doing?" knowing in full you could care less about how he/she is doing. And fully expect a simple "good" and be on his / her way.
Then why are you expecting anyways?! Just let them do it if they said so..if not, crap!...live your life!
Empty talk is normal and acceptable human behaviour. Trust me, no other mammal , not even the closest relative apes to us, think empty talk is abnormal. It is normal to say more of what one can do than what one actually does. This is because people are optimistic about what they should do than what they actually do. There are major factors that inhibits fulfilment: risks of acting out one's promise, say "yes" rather than "no" to someone although "no" is realistic, costs of acting out one's promise, fear of non- reciprocation, fear of losing out......... However at a university, it is quite noticeable through experience with actual students which parts of the world tend to have more students who do empty talks! I leave this to your imagination and experience. Of course this observation applies to adult life too but the factors which affect fullfilment of one's talk/promise applies. Last but not least, although people are born with certain empty talk level. Ultimately one's level of empty talk is conditioned by his/her experience of empty talk by other people. So if a person with no empty talk encounters lots of people who empty talks non stop then you can imagine what will happen next. So the fault is as much attributable to an individual as it is to others externally.
