NYT:

"It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, said Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona who published a study on the subject.

ÒWe found this so interesting, because it could have gone the other way Ñ it could have been, ÔDonÕt worry, be happyÕ Ñ as long as you surf on the shallow level of life youÕre happy, and if you go into the existential depths youÕll be unhappy,Ó Dr. Mehl said.

But, he proposed, substantive conversation seemed to hold the key to happiness for two main reasons: both because human beings are driven to find and create meaning in their lives, and because we are social animals who want and need to connect with other people.

ÒBy engaging in meaningful conversations, we manage to impose meaning on an otherwise pretty chaotic world,Ó Dr. Mehl said. ÒAnd interpersonally, as you find this meaning, you bond with your interactive partner, and we know that interpersonal connection and integration is a core fundamental foundation of happiness.Ó

Dr. MehlÕs study was small and doesnÕt prove a cause-and-effect relationship between the kind of conversations one has and oneÕs happiness. But thatÕs the planned next step, when he will ask people to increase the number of substantive conversations they have each day and cut back on small talk, and vice versa.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, involved 79 college students Ñ 32 men and 47 women Ñ who agreed to wear an electronically activated recorder with a microphone on their lapel that recorded 30-second snippets of conversation every 12.5 minutes for four days, creating what Dr. Mehl called Òan acoustic diary of their day.Ó"...