“Don’t talk to strangers”, our mothers used to say… A new study contradicts this wise advice.
According to a study, talking to strangers makes you happier. The authors, Nicholas Epley and Juliana Shroeder, were aware that previous research had revealed that social interaction gives our happiness levels a big boostAll of those studies had focused primarily on existing connections that people already had: the bonds between family members, friends, and loved ones. Epley and Shroeder were curious as to whether these benefits were true for interactions with complete strangers.
How was the experiment? Epley and Shroeder assigned a group of bus and train passengers in the Chicago area, one of the three groups was asked to seek a connection with a stranger during their trip; the other group was asked to remain disconnected from the others as if no one was around them and the third group was asked to behave normally.
Which it was the result? Although the participants had previously predicted that they would enjoy their trip more if they were disconnected – which in fact did not happen – people who were asked to strike up a conversation reported that they actually enjoyed their trip much more than those who did not.
Here’s the cool thing: We’re always quiet on the way to our jobs, so we sabotage the act of talking to someone for fear of being bored or disturbed:
Travelers said they were generally willing to talk, but thought the person next to them would not be willing to talk. Now, if most people are willing to talk, but everyone believes that others are not willing to talk, no one is going to start a conversation… The challenge is just getting a conversation going because once the ice is broken, the rest turns out to be easy.
Remember always keep your safety in mind, do not give confidential information or accept suspicious invitations. Try to keep small talk, because Bogotá is, unfortunately, a very dangerous city.
Do you accept the challenge?
With information from sdpnoticias