Fast response times signal social connection in conversation

Abstract

Clicking is one of the most robust metaphors for social connection. But how do we know when two people "click"? We asked pairs of friends and strangers to talk with each other and rate their felt connection. For both friends and strangers, speed in response was a robust predictor of feeling connected. Conversations with faster response times felt more connected than conversations with slower response times, and within conversations, connected moments had faster response times than less-connected moments. This effect was determined primarily by partner responsivity: People felt more connected to the degree that their partner responded quickly to them rather than by how quickly they responded to their partner. The temporal scale of these effects (<250 ms) precludes conscious control, thus providing an honest signal of connection. Using a round-robin design in each of six closed networks, we show that faster responders evoked greater feelings of connection across partners. Finally, we demonstrate that this signal is used by third-party listeners as a heuristic of how well people are connected: Conversations with faster response times were perceived as more connected than the same conversations with slower response times. Together, these findings suggest that response times comprise a robust and sufficient signal of whether two minds “click.”

Tendency to laugh is a stable trait: findings from a round-robin conversation study

“…We also suspect that the negative relationship observed here between enjoyment and laughter may be specific to the conversational context of unacquainted dyads. Interactions with familiar partners are generally more enjoyable [7] and laughter-filled [63], suggesting that laughter in these contexts is less about tension reduction and more reflective of genuine merriment (e.g. [58]).…”

“…But the fact that laughter is a global and early developing phenomenon does not mean that everyone laughs in the same way or to the same degree. People likely vary in their tendency to laugh just as they vary along many other behavioural dimensions including how they explore information [5], empathize and recognize emotions [6], and connect socially [7]. Here we ask whether the frequency with which people laugh in conversation also comprises a stable individual difference and whether this individual difference predicts more personal (individual enjoyment) or social (perceived similarity) outcomes.…”

“…But the fact that laughter is a global and early developing phenomenon does not mean that everyone laughs in the same way or to the same degree. People likely vary in their tendency to laugh just as they vary along many other behavioural dimensions including how they explore information [5], empathize and recognize emotions [6], and connect socially [7].…”

Wisdom from words: The psychology of consumer language

“…This work, though, only scratches the surface of what is possible. Research has begun to explore things like linguistic signals of conversational receptiveness (Yeomans et al, 2020), or openness to opposing viewpoints, linguistic features that lead to longer conversations (Boghrati & Berger, 2022), and even how paralinguistics features like pausing (Van Zant et al, 2022) and response speed (Templeton et al, 2022) impact social inferences and social connection. Even controlling for how interesting a particular product or brand is to discuss, the way conversation partners talk about something (i.e., the linguistic features used) shapes how long it is discussed.…”

Long gaps between turns are awkward for strangers but not for friends

“…More accurate predictions can facilitate faster response times and shorter gaps between turns. These response times have social consequences [ 9 ]. People in conversations with shorter gaps report enjoying their conversations more and feeling more connected to their conversation partners.…”