Talk

Outline

Talk (2018) reveals what really happens in everyday conversations, based on the scientific study of thousands of real recorded interactions. Elizabeth Stokoe shows how small choices of words, such as how we open a phone call or make a request, can change how people respond. The book offers practical insights for better communication in customer service, negotiation, medicine, and everyday life.

• Talk draws on the scientific study of thousands of real, recorded conversations rather than on guesswork about how people communicate.
• Small choices of words, such as how you open a phone call, can change how the other person responds.
• The way you phrase a request can affect whether it gets a yes or a no.
• The same conversation insights apply in customer service, negotiation, medicine and everyday life.

Elizabeth Stokoe is a British social psychologist and professor who studies conversation analysis, the science of how people talk. She has taught at Loughborough University and the London School of Economics and works with organisations to improve communication in real settings. Talk: The Science of Conversation is her first book for general readers.