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

Gillian M Sandstrom,Fabian Okeke,Tanzeem Choudhury,Elizabeth W Dunn,Vincent Wen-Sheng Tseng,Jean Costa

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158834

Gillian M Sandstrom, Fabian Okeke + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158834

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Jul 20, 2016
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Cornell University, University of British Columbia

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.

Highlights

People generally enjoy talking to one another
In general, the more social interactions a person has, the happier they feel, this conclusion ignores the fact that interactions differ in quality: Not every interaction results in positive feelings
We used a mobile phone app, My Social Ties, to capture information about the social interactions people had as they went about their daily lives

Summary

Introduction

People generally enjoy talking to one another. When asked how they are currently feeling, people report being happier during social activities/interactions than during non-social activities [1]. When people think back on their day, they remember being happier during times in which they were socializing than during times in which they were doing other activities [2,3]. People report being happier on days in which they recall more social activities [4,5,6,7]. Conversations that involve receiving help or support, and conversations that involve arguing or confrontation are associated with increases in negative affect [6]

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