The psychology behind why you dread small talk

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Do you avoid small talk in the office, or with your neighbor in the elevator? If so, you might want to give it a chance. According to a study just published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, even when participants were primed that a conversation would be boring, it turned out to be more interesting than they anticipated. Today on the show, we get into that, plus why scientists gave lobsters painkillers, and a clue about the formation of the Grand Canyon.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.9	Hey, Shortweaver is Regina Barber here with my co-host, Emily Kwong.
0:09.0	Hi, Gina.
0:10.1	Hey, I'm.
0:10.9	And we also have Elsa Chang, our beloved colleague out in L.A. who hosts all things considered in her downtime from talking to us.
0:18.1	So much downtime.
0:19.5	Yeah.
0:23.3	We're all here for the latest installment of our like news roundup, an episode pulling together some of the most interesting studies
0:27.7	we found in scientific journals lately. Yeah, something that's trending on social media,
0:32.3	that we can do a little truth squatting around. Yep. And this time we've got a whole range
0:36.5	of topics. To start with, Elsa,
0:38.1	what is your relationship to small talk? I actually love small talk because I am amazing at small talk.
0:44.2	Oh, I also like small talk. I do like running into you when I visit California. Our first topic is
0:49.6	about the worthiness of small talk. Should we do it? Like, how boring is it really? It's not boring. You have to make
0:55.4	it not boring. True, true. Speaking of which, like, how much are you looking forward to a
1:00.2	conversation about lobsters? Well, I love to eat lobsters. Will you, though, after listening to
1:05.5	the science? No, no, no. Please, don't take another good thing away from me. We'll hold your
1:10.3	claw through it. Don't worry. And we are rounding all of this cool science out with a look at how the Colorado River came to carve the Grand Canyon.
1:18.6	Ooh, cool. Today on the show, scientific research knows no bounds.
1:24.9	From small talk to aquatic emotions and ancient history,
1:28.4	we'll leave you with no shortage of cutting-edge dinner party conversation.
1:32.1	Small talk.
	...

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