Discussions on trivial topics, also called “small talk”, can often seem boring. However, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and cited by The Guardian it shows that people enjoy seemingly boring discussions more than they expect.
The results, based on the conversations of 1,800 volunteers who took part in the experiment, suggest that by avoiding conversations that seem mundane, people are missing out on the mood and health benefits of connecting with other people.
“Many people avoid casual conversations, fear networking events and assume that certain topics, such as the weather, commuting or daily routine, will not be interesting,” says Elizabeth Trinh, the PhD student who organized the experiment.
She adds that “people underestimate how interesting and enjoyable conversations about boring topics can actually be.”
How the research was done
Trinh and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments to understand how people react to conversations about mundane topics.
First, they asked participants to estimate how much or how little they would enjoy discussing topics they considered boring: the stock market, diets, or Pokémon.
Participants made small talk about these topics, either online or face-to-face, with strangers or friends, and then rated how much they enjoyed the talks.
Consistently, people found the conversations more pleasant than expected, even when both participants said the topic was boring, according to data published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
“People stand to gain if they lower the standard”
“What really matters is the involvement, that feeling of connection, the fact that you feel listened to, that you respond to each other,” explains Elisabeth Trinh.
She believes that people miss out on connections with other people because they misjudge how conversations will go: “We avoid talking to that co-worker who's making coffee, a stranger at an event, or a neighbor in the elevator,” she says.
“But I think people benefit from lowering the bar for what they think makes a conversation worthwhile. Instead of asking if we're going to like it, maybe we should be asking what we're going to learn,” the researcher adds.
“Just because you know where a conversation might start, doesn't mean you know where it will end”
University of Chicago behavioral science professor Nicholas Epley also argues in favor of “small talks.”
“Just because you know where a conversation might start, doesn't mean you know where it will end, and the conversation can go in a much more interesting direction than you expected,” says the expert.
He also adds that the research results cited by The Guardian make it clear that “the fear of a boring conversation shouldn't stop you from starting it. After all, if a conversation gets boring, you surprisingly have quite a lot of power to make it more interesting.”
