Ray D'Arcy

That's what music can do for you.

That's what music can do for you.

As can chat.

I was drawn to this one.

I spotted it this morning.

Hate small talk.

You may enjoy that dull chat more than you think, say researchers.

So the University of Michigan, they've researched 1,800 volunteers in conversation.

Elizabeth Trin, a PhD candidate who was across the research, says, a lot of people, myself included, cancel small talk.

We dread networking events and we assume that certain topics like the weather or commuting or our daily routines won't be interesting.

But people underestimate how interesting and enjoyable conversations about boring topics will actually be.

The surprise enjoyment seems to arise because people base their expectations on the static components of the conversations, such as the topic and the other person, and not, and this is the important thing, the dynamic components such as the conversation itself.

So what we do is, they were asked to predict if a conversation about the weather with John was going to be enjoyable.

And they got it wrong every time because when they actually had the conversation, it was enjoyable.

So if you look at it on paper, weather, John, conversation, no thanks.

But the actuality of having the chat is the important thing.

And it's about connection, the word we hear over and over again.

And it's also about where the conversation leads, because oftentimes a conversation starts with a chat about the weather and ends up with somebody pouring out their intimate details to you and looking for somebody to listen.

They're looking for a listening ear.

So I think that's what we'll take away today from this little chat of mine.