Short pieces, every claim cited.
There is a lot of confident advice about how to talk to people and very little of it points at evidence. These are the findings that actually changed how this site works — including one that argues against our own headline metric.
The conversation you're dreading will go better than you think
People mispredict conversations in a specific, measurable direction — and it's not the direction anxiety tells you.
Read it → Evidence · 7 min readShould you actually stop saying um?
The research on filler words doesn't say what most advice claims. Here's what it found — and why we count them anyway.
Read it → Evidence · 6 min readThe one move that carries a conversation
Across 1,961 speed dates, one specific behaviour predicted a second date. It's more mechanical than charm.
Read it → Evidence · 8 min readCommunication apprehension, and why the type matters
Four distinct kinds, each needing a different response — and an honest line between nerves and something a practice tool can't fix.
Read it →Every study linked here is a real, published, peer-reviewed paper, and the PDF link goes to the paper itself so you can check what it says rather than taking our summary for it. Where the research disagrees with the popular advice, we've said so.