Striking up a conversation with someone you don't know can be a minefield. How do you fill awkward silences? What if your questions are too invasive - or too surface-level? How do you politely end an ambling conversation?
Adam Mastroianni is an experimental psychologist based in Washington in the United States, and the author of the science newsletter Experimental History.
He's been researching people's different conversational styles and how they can succeed or fail.
He tells Emile Donovan about the differences that arise between conversational 'givers' and 'takers'.
Photo: Supplied
