Engaging in small talk with strangers does not come naturally to everyone, let alone have a deep and meaningful conversation with them. However, a new research has suggested that people want to have deep and meaningful conversations with strangers, however their preconceived notions and apprehensions prevent them from engaging in wholesome conversations with strangers. The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by the American Psychological Association earlier this week.
For the study, researchers from the University of Chicago conducted a series of experiments in which volunteers engaged in both small talk and more involved conversations. For their study, researchers designed a series of 12 experiments performed on 1,800 total participants. Pairs of people, who were mainly strangers, were asked by the researchers to discuss either relatively deep or shallow topics. Some of the experiments showed people receiving shallow or deep questions to discuss. The shallow questions included typical small talk topics, where people were told to ask strangers what was the best television show they have seen in the last month and discuss it. Another typical small talk question included “What do you think about the weather today?” On the other hand, those pairs who were asked to have deep questions provided more personal and intimate information, such as describing a time they cried in front of another person. Another deep and meaningful question that was given to pairs of subjects was, “If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, your future, or anything else, what would you want to know?”
Before the experiment, participants were quite certain of how awkward the conversations could turn out to be. Subjects also predicted before the conversation, how connected they thought they would feel to their conversation partner and how much they would enjoy the activity. The subjects then answered the same questions after the conversations actually took place.
Co-author of the study and professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Nicholas Epley said in a statement that his study has shown how connecting with others in meaningful ways is more likely to make people happier, and yet people also seem reluctant to engage in deeper and more meaningful conversation. The study pointed out this peculiar paradox in people’s social behaviour, as Epley said if connecting with others in deep and meaningful ways helps a person’s well-being, then why do they not do it more often in daily life.
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