Rapport

Do you know that feeling when the person you are talking to just gets it? Sometimes, we naturally click with people. We almost instantaneously feel comfortable sharing with them because we feel understood and seen. Other times, it takes a while for our walls to come down and for us to build a trusting relationship with someone. Either way, once trust has been established between us and someone else, we are more likely to communicate openly and honestly, to cooperate with them, and feel positive after our interactions with that person.

Trust within a relationship or interaction is often a result of having rapport with another individual. Rapport is defined as a harmonious relationship, especially one “characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy.” ¹ When we have good rapport with someone, we have formed a close relationship with them that makes us feel connected. We are more likely to divulge information, listen to advice from, and accept the ideas from someone who has built good rapport with us.

Rapport might therefore be thought of as a tool an individual can leverage when communicating with others. For researchers, building rapport is important so that people participating in a study feel comfortable being honest and sharing personal details about themselves, which will lead to more meaningful insights.