Psychology: Deep conversations with strangers are LESS awkward than small talk, study finds

Whether it's during a long taxi journey or in the queue at the supermarket, there are often situations where we're forced to talk to strangers. However, deep meaningful conversations were found to be less awkward, and more enjoyable than small talk. People actually prefer to have deep, meaningful conversations with strangers over just making small talk — which feels more awkward — a study has found DEEP CONVERSATION STARTERS If you're bored of discussing the weather, you might try using the following questions from the study as deeper conversational prompts: For what in your life do you feel most grateful? 'Connecting with others in meaningful ways tends to make people happier,' said paper author and behavioural scientist Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago. 'Our participants' expectations about deeper conversations were not woefully misguided, but they were reliably miscalibrated in a way that could keep people from engaging a little more deeply with others in their daily lives.'