What makes a follow-up question feel like real interest?
A question can respond to what someone just said, or move to the next item on an unrelated list. Research on online conversations and speed dating examined that difference in relation to liking and responsiveness. A 2025 correction reports that its substantive conclusions remained unchanged; neither the study nor a good question guarantees a particular reaction in every conversation.
Questions you could explore
- What in the previous answer does the follow-up actually respond to?
- How does responding to a specific detail differ from asking a prepared question that changes the subject?
Start reading
- Huang and colleagues / Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2017It doesn't hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking
The original study’s abstract describes question-asking, perceived responsiveness, and liking in online conversations and speed dating. Read with the linked 2025 correction; results from these settings do not guarantee a reaction in every conversation.
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology; PubMed indexed abstractCorrection to It does not hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking by Huang et al. (2017)
The 2025 correction reports that the substantive conclusions remained unchanged. Its abstract describes the conversation studies and their follow-up-question measure.
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