I don't know about falling into line by default.
I naturally like people (until they give me reason not to) I think all people are vunerable, it's just the human state and people cover it up in different ways around other people. So if you can make the other person feel comfortable, you will generally get to see the real person behind the mask most people wear in public.
I'm really nosy..I mean.. interested in people too and like hearing about how others deal with stuff and their interests and things, so it just becomes natural process from there.
I don't have to think the same way as them, I don't have to hold the same views and opinions, I don't have to go along with them, but it doesn't mean there can't be a human connection, as it's the one big thing we all have in common, being human, and there is nothing anyone has been through, thought or felt that the vast majority of us haven't