It doesn’t hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking

In three studies, people who asked more questions were better liked; perceived responsiveness helped explain the effect.

Huang, K., Yeomans, M., Brooks, A. W., Minson, J. & Gino, F. (2017). It doesn’t hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(3), 430–452.

Type

Journal article

Find it

doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000097

Checked

Against the abstract, 16 September 2026

Why it is on the list

Across three studies of live conversations between pairs — two online get-acquainted conversations and one field study of face-to-face speed dating — people who asked more questions, and follow-up questions in particular, were better liked by the person they were talking to. People instructed to ask more questions were rated higher in responsiveness, which the authors gloss as listening, understanding, validation, and care, and responsiveness is what explained the effect. The abstract’s last finding is the one week 9 reads out: people do not anticipate that question-asking increases liking.

Week 9 uses the follow-up question as a way to take a turn without escalating disclosure.

The paper also comes with something the social protocol has never had — a maintenance record. A 2025 correction reports that an independent audit found minor errors in how some results were reported, that every hypothesis test’s substantive result is unchanged, and that the corrected results and audit materials are public. And Kluger and Malloy (2019) published a reanalysis of the speed-dating study arguing that a second date is not the same thing as liking and that much of the variance in question-asking belongs to the particular pair rather than the person; Yeomans and colleagues published a reply. Read the three together.