A quick back and forth with the cashier at the grocery store. A friendly hello to someone on the elevator. A laugh with a taxi driver. These are all examples of "small talk." Some of us live for small ...

Finding small talk uncomfortable can say a lot about your personality. Understand more about what it means and how it differs ...

"The problem with most small talk is that it's happening on autopilot," says communication expert Lorraine K. Lee, author of "Unforgettable Presence." ...

It's easy to say, "I'm not good at small talk" and simply try to ignore it, Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit argues that small talk isn't an innate skill, but rather a learned behavior.

Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. When Gillian Sandstrom was a graduate student in Toronto more than a decade ago, she encountered a ...

Do you dread trading niceties with retail clerks and assorted other strangers when you are out in public? Do you go out of your way to avoid neighbors and co-workers so that you do not have to engage ...

You walk into the conference networking event, feeling alone, aware of the steady chatter throughout the room. You look to find someone you might know, you sense your breath growing faster and you ...

Making small talk can be hard—especially when you’re not sure whether you’re doing it well. But conversations are a central part of relationship-building. In this first episode of How to Talk to ...