Rapport

For other uses, see Rapport (disambiguation).

Rapport (rah-POR) is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned are "in sync" with each other, understand each other's feelings or ideas, and communicate smoothly.[1]

The word derives from the French verb rapporter which means literally to carry something back[2][1] (in the sense of how people relate to each other: what one person sends out the other sends back). For example, people with rapport may realize that they share similar values, beliefs, knowledge, or behaviors around politics, music, or sports.[3] This may also mean that they engage in reciprocal behaviors such as posture mirroring or increased coordination in their verbal and nonverbal interactions.[4]

Rapport has been shown to have benefits for psychotherapy and medicine,[5] negotiation,[6] education,[7] and tourism,[8] among others. In each of these cases, the rapport between members of a dyad (e.g. a teacher and student or doctor and patient) allows the participants to coordinate their actions and establish a mutually beneficial working relationship, or what is often called a "working alliance".[5] In consumer-oriented guided group activities (e.g., a cooking class, a wine tour, and hiking group), rapport is not only dyadic and customer-employee oriented, but also customer-customer and group-oriented as customers consume and interact with each other in a group for an extended period.[8]

  1. ^ a b "Rapport – Definition". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 22 Mar 2011.
  2. ^ Manser, Martin; Turton, Nigel (1998). Advanced Learners Dictionary. Wordsworth Editions. p. 574. ISBN 978-1-85326-763-5.
  3. ^ Neil H. Katz; Marcia Koppelman Sweedler; John W. Lawyer (6 December 2010). Communication & Conflict Resolution Skills. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-7575-7875-5.
  4. ^ Tickle-Degnen, Linda; Rosenthal, Robert (1990). "The Nature of Rapport and Its Nonverbal Correlates" (PDF). Psychological Inquiry. 1 (4): 285–293. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0104_1. S2CID 2102460.
  5. ^ a b Falkenström, F; Hatcher, R; Skjulsvik, T; Larsson, M; Holmqvist, R (2014). "Development and Validation of a 6-item Working Alliance Psychotherapy" (PDF). Psychological Assessment. 27 (1): 169–83. doi:10.1037/pas0000038. PMID 25346997.
  6. ^ Drolet, Aimee; Morris, Michael (2000). "Rapport in Conflict Resolution: Accounting for How Face-to-Face Contact Fosters Mutual Cooperation in Mixed-Motive Conflict". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 36: 25–30. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.321.8823. doi:10.1006/jesp.1999.1395. S2CID 15998184.
  7. ^ Frisby, Brandi; Martin, Matthew (2010). "Instructor–Student and Student–Student Rapport in the Classroom". Communication Education. 59 (2): 146. doi:10.1080/03634520903564362. S2CID 144995267.
  8. ^ a b Lee, Linda W.; Boon, Edward; McCarthy, Ian P. (2021-12-01). "Does getting along matter? Tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities". Tourism Management. 87: 104381. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104381. ISSN 0261-5177.