On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti The big impact of small interactions
Nov 27, 2025
Join Jeffrey Hall, a communication studies professor, and Andy Merola, a professor at UC Santa Barbara, as they delve into the transformative power of small interactions. They explore why brief negative encounters leave a lasting impact and discuss how everyday acts of kindness can shape our social fabric. The conversation highlights the importance of perceived partner responsiveness in communication and warns against limiting our connections to similar individuals, emphasizing the need for diverse interactions to foster empathy and hope.
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Plane Confrontation That Lingeringly Mattered
- Meghna Chakrabarti describes a tense deplaning where an older man blocked her and her daughter trying to make a connection flight.
- The three-minute interaction left her ruminating for days and shaped how she viewed other passengers.
Negativity Bias Magnifies Small Slights
- Jeffrey Hall explains single negative interactions echo far longer due to our brain's negativity bias.
- Negative moments carry more weight and can undo many positive interactions.
Five Minutes That Changed A Mindset
- Listener Elizabeth Guffey recounts getting stuck in a snowstorm and a stranger shoveling her out in minutes.
- The stranger told her "everybody's got five minutes," a mantra she now lives by.
