Rapport

Rapport (/rəˈpɔːr/ rə-POR; French: [ʁapɔʁ]) 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.

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] indicating attentiveness through maintaining eye contact;[9] and matching tempo, terminology, and breathing rhythm.

[13] Coordination, also called "mirroring"[4] means getting into rhythm with another person, or resembling their verbal or nonverbal behaviors: Another way to build rapport is for each partner to indicate their attentiveness to the other.

The authors maintain that if there is a mismatch between the interlocutors in their interpretations or prioritisation of any of these triggers, rapport will be affected and typically undermined.

[7] Some have argued that teacher-student rapport is an essential element of what makes an effective teacher, or the ability to manage interpersonal relationships and build a positive, pro-social, atmosphere of trust and reduced anxiety.

[7] In these relationships, intentionally building rapport through individual meetings has shown an increase in student engagement and level of comfort in the classroom.

To better study how rapport can lead to the above benefits, researchers generally adopt one of three main approaches: self-report surveys given to the participants,[7] third-party observations from a naive observer,[4] and some form of automated computational detection, using computer vision and machine learning.

[6][7] Though this is the most common approach, it suffers from unreliability of self-report data, such as the issue of separating participants' reflection on a single interaction with their relationship with the other person more broadly.

[26] Challenges include technical difficulties interrupting video calls and direct messaging, interruptions and distractions from the user's home, a lack of intimacy and the ability to observe one another, lack of eye contact, mundane interactions, and the "pressure of presence".