Talking Less during Social Interactions Predicts Enjoyment: A Mobile Sensing Pilot Study

PLoS One. 2016 Jul 20;11(7):e0158834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158834. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Can we predict which conversations are enjoyable without hearing the words that are spoken? A total of 36 participants used a mobile app, My Social Ties, which collected data about 473 conversations that the participants engaged in as they went about their daily lives. We tested whether conversational properties (conversation length, rate of turn taking, proportion of speaking time) and acoustical properties (volume, pitch) could predict enjoyment of a conversation. Surprisingly, people enjoyed their conversations more when they spoke a smaller proportion of the time. This pilot study demonstrates how conversational properties of social interactions can predict psychologically meaningful outcomes, such as how much a person enjoys the conversation. It also illustrates how mobile phones can provide a window into everyday social experiences and well-being.

MeSH terms

  • Cell Phone*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • Male
  • Pilot Projects
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, both through a Doctoral Fellowship to GMS [752-2011-2192] and a Standard Research Grant to EWD [410-2011-0582]. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.