Building trust is a tricky job, but it’s the most crucial aspect of any relationship, irrespective of whether it’s personal or professional. Usually, people consider helping others the easiest way to gain their trust, but have you ever thought that a friendly conversation is also not a bad option?
Speaking of conversations, it’s observed quite often that when someone gives a quick response to a question or comment, he/she is believed easily since the others get convinced that he/she knows about the subject.
A study conducted by Grenoble Ecole de Management in Grenoble, France, reveals that a person’s speed of answering a question decides his credibility. When a query gets a slow response, the audience thinks that the answer is less honest, whereas the same reply, if given quickly, is considered authentic.
Interesting, isn’t it? Come, let’s dig deeper into the matter.
Are you fast enough to gain trust?
To prove that fast answers have more authenticity, Dr. Ignazio Ziano and Dr. Deming Wang of James Cook University conducted fourteen experiments on 7,565 participants from the U.S., U.K., and France.
Every experiment had participants observing people’s responses by watching video clips, hearing audio clips, or reading answers. The replies varied from instant retorts to answers that popped-up after a 10-second pause. After going through the responses, participants had to use a sliding scale to rate them based on their sincerity.
The results showed that the candidates regarded slow responders as less sincere. The only thing that affected the candidates’ decision-making was a vindicating situation. They were okay with giving some leverage to respondents who paused before answering an unpleasant or socially problematic question.
Read – The role of posture in communication
Slow and steady doesn’t win the race
Dr. Ziano revealed that while conversing, people persistently judge each other’s sincerity. He criticized the bias against slow responders and said that it could damage an individual’s entire life, especially if the same rule applied in a court hearing.
Imagine if such a thing happens in a courtroom where the jury gives a faulty judgment thinking that the suspect’s slow response is because of fabrication or misrepresentation. There could be a possibility that the suspect’s distraction led to a delay in response, but it could lead to him getting accused of something he might not have done.
A similar correlation applies to job interviews where hiring managers tend to prefer quick respondents over slow ones as they appear to be more sincere.
Overall, the point revolves around whether or not you respond quickly to questions. According to the studies and sample scenarios above, if you want others to believe you, you need to be quick while responding, or else your slow response can be perceived as a lie.
Read – How to be confident while speaking?
Summing it up
Although we’ve established that believing or not believing depends on how fast you can give a reply, the confidence factor also plays a huge role in gaining the other person’s trust. So be quick and confident while responding.
