Getting beyond small talk: Study finds people enjoy deep conversations with strangers

The more I talk to people, the less I see the point in conversation. I’ve often been in the midst of a conversation and have suddenly, unwillingly, been extracted mysteriously from it, as if I were observing the whole thing with a strange sense of detached melancholy, like an out-of-body experience.

in the study involving the thirty-six sharing questions, about a fifth are about the relationship in general.

They found that students who spent less time alone and more of their conversation time in meaningful (as opposed to ‘small’) talk reported having much higher wellbeing.

We too often think that deep conversations have to be painful or vulnerable conversations. I try to compensate for that by asking questions about the positive sides of life: “Tell me about a time you adapted to change.” “What’s working really well in your life?” “What are you most self-confident about?” “Which of your five senses is strongest?” “Ha