Small talk in videoconferencing improves conversational experience and fosters relationships.

Small talk plays a big role in conversational perception. In the study here, pairs of conversational participants engaged in three iterations of an ecologically valid task-break dialogue where the break was either small talk via videoconferencing or waiting the same amount of time with cameras and mics turned off. Small talk increased conversational participants' enjoyment of conversations, their willingness to engage in future conversations with their addressees, and their actual engagement in unprompted conversations with their addressees.

Reciprocity in Instant Messaging Conversations.

We tested how the introduction and removal of well-defined roles influenced contribution behaviors in instant messaging conversations. Pairs of participants worked on a referential communication task where one participant (the director) had more information than the other (the matcher). Next, these roles were removed and the participants were allowed to communicate freely.

Reciprocity in Conversation.

This work provides initial evidence of reciprocity in conversation. We tested whether conversations with contribution imbalances brought on by task demands contained attempts to redress the created imbalance. Pairs of participants identified public art via phone communication.