Why We Underestimate Each Other: teacher key

Making Friends, grade 10 edition, written for 10th grade. Studies of strangers, students and adults show that people tend to guess wrong about how much others like them. The story follows that research through the hours friendships take, an exercise with 36 questions, and a study of relationships that began in 1938.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What is the liking gap?
   • People underestimate how much a conversation partner likes them (answer)
   • People like strangers more than friends
   • Friends like each other less over time
2. What did the pairs in the 36-question exercise do that made them feel closer?
   • Took turns answering each question (answer)
   • Talked only about school
   • Let one person speak at a time
3. In the Kansas research, which kind of conversation tended to leave students more distant?
   • Playful talk
   • Pure small talk (answer)
   • Serious conversations
4. Why might the liking gap keep a friendship from starting?
   • Strangers dislike each other
   • A person may wrongly assume the other does not like them and not try (answer)
   • Conversations are too short
5. What does the word reciprocal mean?
   • Give-and-take (answer)
   • One-sided
   • Very quiet

Words

• loneliness: feeling cut off
• pessimistic: expecting the worst
• reciprocal: give-and-take
• participants: study volunteers