A quick back and forth with the cashier at the grocery store. A friendly hello to someone on the elevator. A laugh with a taxi driver. These are all examples of "small talk." Some of us live for small ...

It's easy to say, "I'm not good at small talk" and simply try to ignore it, Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit argues that small talk isn't an innate skill, but rather a learned behavior.

Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. When Gillian Sandstrom was a graduate student in Toronto more than a decade ago, she encountered a ...

"The problem with most small talk is that it's happening on autopilot," says communication expert Lorraine K. Lee, author of "Unforgettable Presence." ...