Do you want to know how someone REALLY is? Chat with them for four minutes! Study shows small talk can reveal important personality traits
- Researchers had participants chat online with strangers for just four minutes
- They were then asked to play two strategic games together
- They found that they had made an impression of the personality within four minutes
- And those impressions influenced how they played the games
Whether it’s a first date or an interview, it’s often important to make a good first impression.
And a new study suggests it only takes four minutes for your key personality traits to really shine through.
Researchers from the University of Warwick had participants chat online with strangers for just four minutes and found that they quickly developed a sense of their partner’s personality.
“In a laboratory setting, after just 4 minutes of ‘small talk’, subjects developed a sense of their partner’s personality, particularly extraversion, which consequently changed their behavior in future interactions,” the researchers said.
Whether it’s a first date or a job interview, there are often times when it’s important to make a good first impression (stock image)
Previous studies have shown that people make assumptions about people’s personalities during face-to-face interactions.
So far, however, little is known about how people assess the personality of others without seeing them.
In the study, the researchers asked 168 participants to engage in conservation for four minutes via an instant messenger.
Next, participants noted their impressions of their interlocutors’ personalities, with a focus on extraversion and neuroticism.
Finally, the participants were asked to play strategic games with interlocutors in two strategy games.
For comparison: 170 other participants did not make small talk before the games.
The results showed that participants who engaged in small talk before playing the game gained impressions about their partner’s personality, particularly extraversion.
These impressions also seemed to affect their strategy during matches depending on what they were.
In a game with both competitive and cooperative elements, participants behaved more cooperatively when they believed their partner was an extrovert.
A new study suggests it takes just four minutes for your key personality traits to really shine through (stock image)
In a competitive game involving predicting their opponent’s behavior, participants found it more difficult to outperform their opponent when they felt they shared similar personality traits.
‘Our work underscores the importance of regular ‘small talk’ communication, even when it may not seem relevant or important,’ the researchers added.
“Through short, seemingly trivial interactions with others, we become better able to predict the personalities of our interlocutors, which in turn increases our performance when we interact with them in the future.”
