Rapport

Strategies for Developing Rapport

There are many strategies that people can use to develop rapport with others. Some of these strategies are deliberate, meaning that people use them intentionally and with awareness; for example, people could make a conscious effort to share personal information with others and invite them to do the same in an effort to find things shared in common, which would create feelings of interpersonal closeness and harmony. People might also engage in similar behaviors as a relationship partner or choose to use similar phrases or words. Nonverbal behaviors can also be used deliberately to create a feeling of intimacy with another person; individuals might intentionally smile frequently, make eye contact, or exhibit other engaging behaviors (e.g., looking attentive, leaning forward, using open body posture). All of these behaviors foster positive feelings between people, and they can be purposefully used to accomplish this objective.

More often than not, however, feelings of rapport are a result of behaviors enacted outside of awareness that create feelings of closeness with another. These unconscious behaviors are almost [Page 1329]always nonverbal, and they are called unconscious because they are effortless and occur without awareness, intention, or deliberate control. For example, research has indicated that when interacting with another person, people will often display similar facial expressions, emotions, intonations, and speech rates all without consciously realizing they are doing so. Another unconscious strategy for creating rapport is behavioral mimicry, which is sometimes called mirroring or the chameleon effect. Like a social chameleon, behavioral mimicry occurs when individuals “blend in” to their relationships and their surroundings by adopting the postures, gestures, and mannerisms of their interaction partners. This behavioral imitation usually happens unconsciously; in fact, most people believe (correctly) that if they are “caught” consciously imitating the behaviors of others, hostility or other negative consequences will follow. On the contrary, imitation without awareness or recognition is usually regarded as positive.

Regardless of whether strategies for developing rapport are used consciously or unconsciously, the experience of similarity that results from sharing emotions and behaviors in common with another person is a powerful contributor to feeling in sync or harmonious with that person, and therefore aids in the development of feelings of interpersonal closeness and rapport. In addition, similarity of any type is often a strong predictor of whether two people will develop a lasting relationship.

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