Cultivating Friendship: Assume People Like You

1min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Key takeaways

Transcript

Episode notes

Assuming people like you triggers warmth and openness which makes it more likely to be true
Assuming people like you leads to more intimacy and less need to set up specific times to communicate
People tend to be more cynical about how they come off but it's often not true
Imagining how we would feel if a friend asked us for help can help reduce anxiety about asking for help

The terms of friendship are both voluntary and vague—yet people often find themselves disappointed by unmet expectations. In this episode of How to Talk to People, we explore how to have the difficult conversations that can make our friendships richer and how to set expectations in a relationship defined by choice.

This episode was produced by Rebecca Rashid and is hosted by Julie Beck. Editing by Jocelyn Frank and Claudine Ebeid. Fact-check by Ena Alvarado. Engineering by Rob Smierciak. Special thanks to A.C. Valdez. The managing editor of How to Talk to People is Andrea Valdez.

Be friends with How to Talk to People. Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com. To support this podcast, and get unlimited access to all of The Atlantic’s journalism, become a subscriber.

Music by Alexandra Woodward (“A Little Tip”), Arthur Benson (“Charmed Encounter,” “She Is Whimsical,” “Organized Chaos”), Bomull (“Latte”), and Tellsonic (“The Whistle Funk”).

Also: If you have any comments or suggestions about the show, submit feedback at theatlantic.com/listener-survey. We'd love to hear from you.

Click here to listen to additional episodes in The Atlantic’s How To series.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices