17.08.2013 |
magazine issue | 05/2012
When conversations flow
keywords:
conversational flow / fluency / need to belong / perceived consensus / synchrony
When conversations flow
We all know the awkward feeling when a conversation is suddenly disrupted by a brief silence. These moments can be pretty unsettling. Because people are generally so well-trained in having smooth conversations, any disruption of this flow indicates that something is wrong, either on an interpersonal level or on the level of consensus in a group. The question we aim to answer in this paper is: Why do we feel comfortable in conversations that have flow, and why do we... / more