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On a sidenote, I can't imagine how such focus groups could be of any help in market research, since they tend to attract homogenous groups of broke, unemployed people with nothing better to do on a weekday. Unless you are trying to market lottery tickets or get-rich-quick schemes.
The people all made $150 for a ninety minute discussion sitting around a conference room table in comfortable chairs. It was in the evening and the group was mostly professionals and ethnically diverse. Easy money.
If you noticed in my original post I bolded the fact that the waiting room was super small and I think that makes a difference. We were basically on top of each other so we were much more impacted by having no personal space. There is no books and the room did not get any service on people's SMARTPHONES. And unlike a doctors office we were all being put together for a common exercise.
If I am cramped right up on you, the LAST thing I want to do is talk to you because of bad breath situations.
And I normally chit chat with anyone and hate the impersonal "everyone stare at their smartphone" world that we now reside in.
Upon entering the room I probably would have shot out the question "is this the claustrophobia support group?" to try to break the ice. Beyond that I am comfortable either way.
Just my opinion, I think a lot of the discomfort is fear of the unknown. Watch what happens when children who are 5 or 6 are put into a room-they usually play wonderfully together despite not knowing one another. Adults are conditioned to respond to others with reservation, and over time the feeling of not wanting to be rejected seems to turn into a pre-eminent rejection of others, especially when the cultural norms of a group haven't been established. Again I am not an expert, it's just my $0.02
Why should I be blamed for the lack of social skills of the people in that room?
I wouldn't even call it "lack of skills". More like..."lack of desire".
And you're not being blamed for their lack of whatever-you-want-to-call-it. You just need to accept that is how some people are and move on. It appears that it just throws you for a loop when people don't meet the standards of your perceived ideals. It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.
In spite of being an introvert (INTJ), I talk to strangers all the time.
I cannot imagine that I would sit there wordlessly. My wife, who is an extrovert, would sit quietly. We are the odd couple. I, who am comfortable alone, take the lead in unfamiliar situations, and she, who needs fairly constant social interaction, shrinks from unfamiliar people and situations.
I would be curious to see how people act in that situation, when they are not stairing at their phones. Are they looking down, avoiding eye contact, etc?
I am an introvert, and do not typically initiate conversation. If someone else wants to start small talk, I am polite, I smile, and I will certainly convert with the person, but deap down I have no interest in it. I certainly am not the one to initiate it.
My husband is the polar opposite of me. People tend to start conversations with him all of the time (elevators, waiting rooms, whatever) and if they don't, he will try with all his might to start one with them. He loves it. The craziest thing is, he's the one on his darn iphone all of the time, a lot more than I'm on mine.
It really depends on the prevailing culture of wherever you are. In the deep South, there's no real cultural taboo against chatting it up with total strangers. So you'd have a funny conversation on your hands inside of three minutes. Maybe a party.
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