Small talk has a bad reputation. People roll their eyes at it and see it as a dreaded necessity that they need to get out of ...

Small talk may be the most maligned category of conversation. For many, it's a time-waster with no redeeming qualities other than mindless chatter. Yet, when properly understood and applied, small ...

Do you dread trading niceties with retail clerks and assorted other strangers when you are out in public? Do you go out of your way to avoid neighbors and co-workers so that you do not have to engage ...

When Gillian Sandstrom was a graduate student in Toronto more than a decade ago, she encountered a stranger on the subway who was carrying a scrumptious-looking cupcake. Sandstrom had long considered ...

Think about what it's like to be at a birthday dinner where you have to interact with your friend's neighbors for the first time, or what it's like to be waiting for a Zoom to begin with coworkers you ...

You walk into the conference networking event, feeling alone, aware of the steady chatter throughout the room. You look to find someone you might know, you sense your breath growing faster and you ...