Want Your Partner to Listen More? Talk About the Familiar
Why novel conversation may not be as captivating as we think
There’s nothing better than hearing a good story. And when someone tells us a story that involves something we’ve never heard before, of course we’re more likely to listen. Right?
Wrong.
According to research in Psychological Science, although storytellers believe that listeners will be more engaged when they hear novel stories, which are defined as stories about experiences people are unfamiliar with, listeners are actually not engaged and not impressed. Instead, listeners are more interested in hearing familiar stories about topics they already have experience with.
“Our friends are actually a whole lot happier when we tell them what they already know….”
But how could that be? Doesn’t your partner love hearing about all of the strange adventures you’ve had? Aren’t those stories way more interesting than the same old, same old?
Actually, they’re not. Researchers Gus Cooney, Daniel T. Gilbert, and Timothy D. Wilson conducted a series of studies that found when listeners heard stories about experiences they were familiar with, they awarded the speaker with a…
