Conversational Doorknobs
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Conversational Doorknobs
I came across the term “conversational doorknob” the other day, in reference to engagement-related affordances that help us enter and exit communication rapidly and seamlessly, with as little friction as possible.
As it turns out, research suggests that some of the things we’ve been told about conversations (“don’t start thinking of your answers before the other person has stopped talking”) might be intuitively thoughtful, but not great for building rapport.
There might be something to this, especially when it comes to building the bare-bones foundations of a friendship with a stranger (as opposed to fleshing-out a previously established foundation).
Here’s a link to an essay about this term and its application:
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