FLAME with Brad Hook
Why You're More Likable Than You Think — The Laws of Connection
Science writer David Robson — author of The Expectation Effect and The Laws of Connection — on the research showing people like us more than we think, and how that one mistaken belief quietly shrinks our lives.
David is one of the best in the business at turning rigorous psychology into usable insight. His book The Expectation Effect (a favourite in the FLAME toolkit) showed how beliefs shape biology; The Laws of Connection applies the same rigour to relationships — starting with the 'liking gap', the well-replicated finding that strangers rate our conversations better than we do.
We cover the small shifts that transform connection: asking deeper questions, expressing appreciation out loud, repairing rather than avoiding after friction. A Cambridge-mathematician-turned-writer's field guide to the most consequential skill nobody teaches.
In this episode
- The liking gap — people enjoy you more than you think
- How expectations shape social reality
- Deeper questions beat polished small talk
- Saying appreciation out loud, not just feeling it
- Repair over avoidance after awkward moments
Connect with David
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