Eriko Kojima (20) and Sugee De Palm (20) met as students at Høgskolen i Innlandet in August. In the study city of Lillehammer, they have “found the tone” both at school and in their free time. – The first conversation is what determines whether you fit together, whether you think you will become friends and whether you are interested in continuing to talk to someone, says Sugee. The students say that the first conversations at Lillehammer were a lot about the situation they were in. Where are you from? What are you studying? Where do you live? Eriko likes such conversations. – If I make small talk as much as I can, I can get to know more people and that is important to me. Småprat, or “small talk”, are informal conversations that can, for example, be about the weather, sports, or something that has recently happened. Now a new study at the University of Warwick shows that such a conversation can reveal important personality traits in just four minutes. POSITIVE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: The researchers in Warwick also point to the fact that we all influence the conversation partner with who we are. In this way, an extroverted person can create an environment that makes an otherwise reserved person stand out more clearly. Here are Eriko and Sugee at the coffee bar at Lillehammer University College. Photo: Mette Vollan / news The value of “small talk” The study investigated the importance of small talk for people who work together. Professor Daniel Sgroi and colleagues are behind the research. – I always thought small talk was a bit boring and meaningless. At the same time, I have always wondered if it could have an important purpose. Why else has it existed for thousands of years? USEFUL KNOWLEDGE: People imagine people they talk to. Already after four minutes we start to get an idea of who the other person is. Is the other bold or shy? Hot or cold? – In companies or social situations, this knowledge can contribute to increasing cooperation, says Sgroi. Photo: PRESSEFOTO/ University of Warwick Experiment was carried out with 338 people who had never met each other before. The participants went through a personality test and an IQ test before being divided into groups. In one group there was no contact between the participants. In the second group, two people “chat” together. This way they could chat without seeing each other. – The study suggested that small talk has an important purpose as it enables us to get a better idea of the personality of the person we are talking to, which can be used in the future to help us predict how they behave, says Sgroi. He refers to the research which says that extroverts who talk a lot tend to be more popular. They are also considered to be more cooperative. THE MOST USED WORDS: The participants in the study chat for four minutes about whatever comes into their head. It surprised the researchers that there was a big difference in what was the topic of the small talk. Photo: warwick.ac.uk The first four Helene Tronstad Moe is not surprised by the findings of the study. She is an associate professor at Kristiania University College. Research into recruitment in working life has shown that the first four minutes can also be decisive for whether a person is assessed as suitable for a position or not. WHAT AM I MISSING? If you are looking for a collaboration partner or are going to recruit for the working world, Moe encourages you to think through which characteristics are most relevant in the context. For example, planning is more important for efficiency in working life than extroversion. – Think about what you don’t understand, what do I not know about this person? Photo: Jonatan A. Quintero / Høyskolen Kristiania Moe believes that extroversion is given great value in today’s society. She explains that the easiest personality trait to discover is precisely whether the other person is an extrovert or an introvert. The challenge is that there is much else about a person that is worth noting, says Moe. – Skills, knowledge, morals, experience and wisdom are not so easy to observe in four minutes, she elaborates. Do you like small talk? No, I try to avoid it Well, sometimes Yes, I love it Show result Moe explains that extroverted people use a lot of words and are happy to communicate. We will recognize this whether the conversation takes place orally or in writing. – When one is eloquent, has a good vocabulary and uses many words, it is an expression of class, gender, extroversion and education. Explore small talk Sugee De Palm is concerned that the other person is easy to talk to and that you can laugh together. She thinks it is more important than what is the topic of the conversation. – I think it’s about “vibe path”, whether the energy matches between the people. She receives support from the English researchers. It’s not really about what you talk about, but that you talk about what is important to you. MOST FRIENDS AMONG THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: – I thought many Norwegian people kept to themselves. They don’t really want to talk. But when they’re drunk, they’re talkative, says Sugee, laughing. Photo: Mette Vollan / news Although Eriko likes small talk, she did not always find it so easy. – I thought it could be difficult to find new topics and keep a conversation going. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES: – I’m an extroverted person, but I’m Japanese and Japanese people are shy, says Eriko. She adds that small talk is more difficult in English than in your own language. Photo: Mette Vollan / news Professor Sgroi believes that the knowledge from the study gives us the opportunity to test ourselves. He advises us to use small talk to signal important aspects of our personality. – Try to say a lot and be sociable! This will work better than appearing introverted or silent during small talk, he says. Hello! Thanks for reading! If you have any feedback or input on this topic, please feel free to write to me. I welcome suggestions for other things I should look at!
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Small talk is perhaps more important than you think – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
