Anyone who’s had a modicum of life experience will have been acquainted with the struggle of an uncomfortable dinner date with a girlfriend’s parents, a silent dinner with co-workers, or the awkward silences of a first date. All this could have been avoided if only they had mastered the art of small talk.

This Is How To Make Small Talk Work Big Wonders For You

Once again, science has come to help us tackle one of the hardest – albeit common – issues of our everyday lives: making conversation with people we’re not comfortable around. This time, Harvard Business School doctoral student Karen Huang and her research team made it their business to analyze over 300 online and face-to-face interactions between people in the process of getting to know each other, in a study aptly named “It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask: Question-asking Increases Liking”.

The Harvard University Study

Regarding online conversations, participants were given a random person to talk with for a quarter of an hour. In the first study, they instructed one of the two people in every pair to ask either many questions (a minimum of 9) or a few (a maximum of 4).

After the conversations, each participant was asked how much they liked their partner. What was gathered from their responses was that those who asked more questions, especially follow-up questions, were found to be more affable than those asking just a few.

In the second study, which examined online communication, participants chatted online for a quarter of an hour. However, this time they were not told how many questions to ask; they were simply told to ask many questions or few. Subsequently, third-party observers studied the transcripts of their chats.

In their view, those who got to answer many questions were more likable than those asking them, Huang reported to the Huffington Post.

Understanding The Findings

She continued, “We suspect this is because people who answer lots of questions end up revealing more information about their thoughts, ideas, and perspectives. They seem more interesting and complete.”

What we aim at when we make small talk is, according to the researcher, to strike a balance between asking questions and answering other people’s questions, being neither too interrogative nor overly guarded.

Small Talk And Dating

The researchers continued their search by looking at a previous study conducted on a sample of 110 people at a speed-dating event. They analyzed the number of questions and follow-up questions that were posed by participants. What they found was that the daters who made follow-up questions were more likely to get a second date.

The conclusion? Asking a good follow-up question is a great idea. When dating, we should try to establish as full and complete a dialogue as possible, rather than a full-blown interrogation session.

Communication expert and author of “The Fine Art Of Small Talk”, Debra Fine told Huffington Post: “There is so much more to a good conversation than merely asking questions and jumping from topic to topic. Follow-up questions are key because otherwise, conversations are just question-after-question with no connection or in-depth real conversation.”

If you’re not sure what questions to ask, read our relevant article for inspiration. For more dating and relationship advice, click here.

Over the years, Romanticism has taught us that there is someone out there who will be the perfect yin to our yang, the light to our darkness, the missing part of our lives that will come to make us complete. However, in reality, romantic love is a whole different story.

How Romanticism Shaped Our Views On Romantic Love

The ideology of Romanticism emerged in Europe in the mid-18th century, expressed by poets, artists, and philosophers, and it has since taken over the world, powerfully (yet very quietly) determining the ending of all Hollywood rom-coms, or how a Chinese woman will be proposed to and an Argentinian guy will bring his date roses. However, as with all prevailing ideologies, it has quite a few pitfalls.

Soulmates

To begin with, there is the notion of a soulmate, the notion that you don’t even have to speak to the other person in order for him or her to understand you. This rarely works, as communication is, in fact, absolutely necessary for a relationship. The lack of it is, indeed, one of the greatest relationship killers.

Linking Love And Sex

Another false idea about romantic love is that love and sex are inextricably united. In reality, while sex might be infinitely better when there are strong romantic feelings present, it does not mean that two people who love each other will always be sexually compatible, and vice versa.

Dividing Romantic Love And Practical Life

A third mistaken concept of Romanticism is that it has fostered a division between romantic love and practical life. In romantic novels, for instance, we hardly ever read about the mundane realities of the protagonists, how they get bored when they go to work or how they agonize about paying the electricity bills. These elements of everyday life are best forgotten, giving us the impression that romantic love is only present as we take strolls on the beach at sunset or go on romantic picnics in the forest.

Thinking That Passion Is Unfaltering

A fourth false expectation regarding romantic love has to do with the unwavering existence of passion. Anyone who has ever been in a long-term relationship (be it in a marriage or outside of it) can attest to the fact that passion is really hard to maintain and it hardly ever stays the same. In reality, passion comes and goes. You may feel too tired of upset with your partner to feel passionate about them, but then a romantic escape or a new tight dress might revive the feeling all of a sudden.

All in all, even though romantic love is a beautiful and noble idea, it is one we should take with a pinch of salt, as explained by a famous philosopher Alain De Botton. Relationships are beautiful as they are complicated, and we should always remind ourselves that they are hard work instead of magically waiting for our partner to read our mind or feeling disappointed when she is too tired to take that stroll in the sunset.

Do you believe in romantic love or not? Either way, you can find your perfect partner on AnastasiaDate today. For more articles on dating and relationships, continue here.

Thank Zuckerberg for social media. The guy made it possible to maintain contact with our most loved ones and flirt our brains out with new ladies all at once. But with great fun comes great responsibility, to tweak a little with the well-known quote. Ladies can instantly go off a guy when they notice one of the following social media mistakes.

The Social Media Mistakes That Can Totally Wreck Your Love Life

You may not realize it, but your Facebook, Twitter or any other social media accounts can reveal a hell of a lot about you. So much, actually, that they can put a lady off you for good if you’re not careful. These are some of the most serious social media mistakes guys make.

Being total whiners.

Yes, we get it. You are upset about the traffic this morning, you don’t like the political situation and you kinda hated the service at the bar you went to last Friday night. But, maybe it’s a good idea to go easy on the negativity, as a constant flow of complaints on your social media status is bad news for you. Nobody wants to be with a guy who complains about everything.

Overstyling your life.

Posing next to flashy cars and mansions that don’t belong to you, and generally trying too hard to be something you are not is a behavior that’s seen as pathetic and pretentious. It’s much better to portray yourself in a more realistic light, as making such a great effort is a clear sign of insecurity.

Flashing the flesh too much.

Even if you have the body of a Greek god, your Instagram feed could use a pic where you are not semi-naked now and then. Surely, it’s not always hot where you are, right? Leave something to the imagination.

Oversharing.

Oversharing your personal life, your drunken nights out with friends, every little detail about how you spend your days and nights gives the impression of a person who has zero personal life. There are certain things we need to keep for those closest to us, otherwise we just look like attention-cravers.

Making filthy comments.

Flirting is alright, and if you are a single guy you should by all means flirt to your heart’s content. But making dirty comments on ladies’ online photos is not the way to go about it. Just no.

We really hope you have stayed away from these bad social media mistakes,  but they are quite easy to make. Now you know how ladies feel about them, though, think twice before you make your next social media post.

If you liked reading this article, continue browsing our blog for more like it. For the chance to meet and date amazing Eastern European ladies, visit AnastasiaDate. You can also check out and download our apps here.

In every game there are certain rules not only to regulate it but also to make it more interesting. Every now and then, however, amendments are made to these rules making the game more up-to-date and relevant. For the most pleasurable and efficient dating game, don’t get caught unaware of the new rules of dating.

How Many Of These New Rules Of Dating Do You Know?

Times change, we change and so does the dating scene. This is how the dating game has evolved, with all the brand new rules explained.

IRL dating VS Online and mobile dating

While in the past we had to be physically present to meet someone and take them out on a date, according to the new rules of dating there is no need to anymore. With so many dating apps and sites like AnastasiaDate, spoiling us for choice by hosting a seemingly endless number of potential partners and helping save time and energy, you get to meet girls from the comfort of your home and chat with them for as long as your (and their) heart desires.

Exclusive dating VS Multiple dating

Another major change in the way dating is done is that we no longer date exclusively. A decade ago, it was really not OK to be seeing many people at once, but today it’s perfectly fine to openly play the field for as long as you want and see as many ladies as you need to in order to find The One. Ladies, of course, are also entitled to do the same.

Dirty talk VS Sexting

Forget about whispering in her ear how you’d love to do naughty things together only to have her listen to half of the things you said, leading to some of the most awkward moments of your dating life. The new rules of dating include sexting for some time now. One word of advice, though. In order to do sexting right you need to start subtly and let her lead the way and show you how far she’s willing to take things, or else you run the risk of creeping her out.

Asking About Your Past VS Googling you

Wanting to know about your new date’s past is understandable, but forget about the endless questions aiming to probe you about your previous relationships. Why bother ask all those uncomfortable questions when she can simply Google you? Your past is right there, so make sure you’re in control of what others can see on your Facebook profile, all other social media and the internet in general.

40s VS 30s

Once upon a time, it was something of a crime to even want to look hot in your 40s. Well, today’s super-hot stars in their 40s, like David Beckham, Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Reynolds, Sofia Vergara, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Heidi Klum – to name a few – prove that age is just a number. And with our careers taking over so much of our 20s and 30s, we get to make families much later than we used to; so 40s are indeed the new 30s.

Now you know the latest rules of dating, it’s time to play the game even better than before. There is one simple rule that never changes, though, and it’s one you should never forget: follow your heart and have a good time.

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