Conversing Mindfully: Creating Trust to Maximise Disclosure

This chapter details key interpersonal and conversation management behaviours and tools that will enable a person to influence ethically the attitude and behaviour of any individual or third party in a face to face encounter. It argues that each participant's attitude affects their manifest behaviour which in turn affects the other person's attitude and behaviour. For an interviewer, this means approaching both planned and unanticipated conversations with an objective and constructive attitude seeking to create a positive impression from first contact and using this as a basis for building and then maintaining rapport across the whole encounter. The chapter also emphasizes the need to monitor and to arrive at a reasonable assessment of the individual's cognitive ability, i.e. ability to cope with what you are saying. Finally, the chapter highlights the importance of being mindful of the language that is used, such as using straightforward talk makes it easy to attend, to follow, and ultimately to comprehend what you are saying irrespective of the individual's manifest ability and facility with language.