Andy’s Quick Hits (150): When you click with someone you do actually click

We all know the feeling of clicking with a person when having a conversation with them. A team of researchers at Dartmouth College in the USA have now quantified this. And yes, when you click you do click.

Specifically, the researchers put 66 participants through 10 conversations, on a topic of their choice, with different people, friends and strangers. The participants then rated the amount of connectedness they had at different parts of the conversations.

They found that higher connectedness was related to higher response times. This was also corroborated by third parties viewing the conversations and rating the level of connectedness. So quicker response times do show higher levels of “clicking” — probably also why we feel like you can end sentences of the other person.

This is also in line with previous research I have reported on that shows that there is higher inter-brain synchronisation amongst friends and in collaborative situations — showing that brain waves also align not to mention that heartbeat also synchronises! In summary, “clicking” with another person is biological, and not just some random “psychological” feeling, and can be measured. There you go. Click!