When we take turns speaking, we chime in after a culturally universal short gap

Re:When we take turns speaking, we chime in after a cultural... by gk1 on Monday January 25, 2016 @02:02PM (#10969126)

If you intentionally prolong the gap, you can force the other side to feel discomfort. Also known as awkward silence. Most people will instinctively fill the gap by starting to talk again, even if they don't have anything more to say.

You can use this in negotiations. After someone makes an offer, they'll stop and expect you to respond. If instead you act as though you're thinking and hold the silence, they may get the natural urge to fill the gap and start speaking again, sometimes offering better terms.

One time I used this technique at a negotiation but the other party was an MBA grad so they might've known about this. This resulted in very long pauses, maybe several of 20-30 seconds each, where we both waited for the other person to fill the gap. If someone were watching us they'd think we're both crazy.

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Re:When we take turns speaking, we chime in after a cultural... by gohrt on Monday January 25, 2016 @03:59PM (#10969897)

A simple way out of that trap is to self-followup with "Take as long as you want to think it over", or "Do you have any questions about my proposal?", or the aggressive "Any objections, or do we have an agreement?" or of course the 21st Century [take out your phone while you wait].

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Re:When we take turns speaking, we chime in after a cultural... by mercer on Tuesday January 26, 2016 @11:01AM (#10974042)

This is one of the most-used and very effective 'tricks' in Ricky Gervais' shows (like The Office and Extra's). I truly believe that the camera staying 'on' after a moment of embarrassment is the single thing that elevates them to the level of excruciating (to some of us). I've been meaning to cut together some scenes where these 'gaps' are left out to see if the character's behavior would still be as excruciating.

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