Why you should talk to strangers | BPS
The things we think will make us feel happier – acing exams, securing a dream job, buying that dress – usually don’t, but small habits can make a big difference. One of them is talking to strangers.
Sophie McBain • The big idea: why we should spend more time talking to strangers
Natalie Audelo added
Despite having more opportunities than ever to connect with strangers, and much to gain from doing so, people often refrain from talking with, and listening to, strangers. We propose a framework that classifies obstacles to connecting with strangers into three categories concerning intention (under-estimating the benefits of conversations), compete... See more
Stav Atir • Talking to strangers: Intention, competence, and opportunity
Sam Liebeskind added
Stav Atir, Xuan Zhao, et al.
Their study found that adults who actively engage with people they don’t know also tend to be happier and less moody with their friends and family and feel a greater sense of belonging in their wider community, compared to adults who just go about their business, blinkered and insulated.
Lisa Messenger • Life & Love: Creating the Dream
people fail to anticipate how much learning happens in conversa-tions with strangers. In a series of studies, Atir and colleagues [9] brought strangers together for 10-min conversations. Compared with how much participants expected to learn from a conversation prior to having it, they consistently reported learning more inter-esting, useful, and ge... See more
Stav Atir • Talking to strangers: Intention, competence, and opportunity
Sam Liebeskind added
Encounters with strangers can be a humbling reminder of the vastness of the world and of each other, the impossible-feeling truth that each one of us contains an entire universe of inner life and a singular perspective, that as a species we have an incredible capacity for kindness, cruelty, courage and creativity.
Sophie McBain • The big idea: why we should spend more time talking to strangers
Natalie Audelo added
Lael Johnson and added
One of the best ways to escape the confines of our worldview is to shift our peer group and talk to people whose work experiences and daily lives are very different from our own.
Roman Krznaric • How to Find Fulfilling Work: The School of Life
Start thinking of strangers as people who can bring new dimensions to your life, not as persons to be feared.