Are conversations with strangers as awkward as we expect?
Experiments comparing expected and reported awkwardness found that participants were often too pessimistic about talking with strangers, particularly about deeper topics.
Questions you could explore
- What might someone misunderstand about a stranger’s interest in hearing from them?
- How could asking people before and after a conversation test their expectations of awkwardness?
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- University of Chicago Booth School of BusinessDeep Conversations with Strangers Are More Fulfilling than Small Talk
This university overview describes Kardas, Kumar and Epley’s conversation experiments. It compares forecasts with reported experience; it does not show that every personal disclosure is welcome.
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