The Best Way to End an Awkward Conversation, According to Statistics

Chances are, at some point in your life you’ve been trapped in an unwanted conversation with someone, and had to figure out how to escape as gracefully as possible. If you’ve ever wondered what’s the most efficient way to exit a conversation without offending the other party, then you’re in luck.

In 1989 a graduate student at San Jose University conducted a study comparing 350 different “conversational retreat tactics” and compared them based on how effective/non-effective they are, as well as how socially acceptable/unacceptable they are.

Click here to read the Washington Post article about the study, or to enlarge the graph above. To read the student’s 100+ page Master’s Theses on the subject click here