Social isolation, such as that experienced during the pandemic, is associated with reduced feelings of connectedness with others. Researchers have developed simple conversational procedures to enhance feelings of connectedness, even between strangers. In the present controlled study, we used such a procedure to demonstrate that participants report greater feelings of closeness to another individual after a 45-min conversation about “deep” compared to “shallow” topics. Healthy young adults (N=37) were paired with a same-sex stranger on two sessions separated by at least 2 days. In one session, they were given “deep talk” topics to discuss, and in the other session, the topics were “small talk.” At the end of each session and again 1 week later, participants rated their partners and their experiences, including how much they liked their partners, their feelings of closeness, and feeling understood. Participants reported liking their deep talk partner more than their small talk partner. They described the deep conversation as being more meaningful and reported feeling closer to their deep talk partner. These effects were evident immediately after the session and remained robust a week later. This study shows that the conversational procedure can be used to assess the two conversations within the same subjects, and that the effects are lasting. Future studies, in both therapeutic and laboratory settings, may shed light on the processes that mediate these feelings of connection.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.