PH
People tend to pay close attention to pauses when they're nervous.
But conversational silence can have many meanings: someone may be thinking, distracted, shy, comfortable, or simply unsure what to say next.
Research on conversation shows that humans are remarkably sensitive to timing, so even relatively short delays can feel longer and more awkward than they objectively are.
One quiet moment therefore provides very little information about someone's overall interest.
A date doesn't fail because neither person had something brilliant to say for five seconds.
© Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
