We Enjoy Deep Conversations With Strangers Much More Than We Expect To

By Emily Reynolds Sometimes the most meaningful conversations come at surprising times: with someone you meet on a train and never see again, with a friend of a friend who you’ve only just met. Conversely, conversations with our closest friends and family can often be difficult, and we sometimes fail to share our deepest thoughts and feelings with those we love the most. A new paper, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, finds that we seriously benefit from these deep conversations with strangers. But, despite this, we sometimes remain reluctant to engage in them, overestimating their awkwardness and underplaying their advantages even when we enjoy them more. In the first study, participants read that they would be randomly paired with another person, who they would discuss several questions with. Topics included things in life they felt grateful about and times they had cried in front of another person. They then estimated how much they would be interested in the other person and how interested the other would be in them, how awkward they would feel during the conversation, and how strong a bond they would feel towards them. After having the conversation, they rated their actual experience of the conversation using these same metrics. The results showed that participants had underestimated how interested they would be in the other person — and how interested that person was in them. They also underestimated how connected they wou...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Social Source Type: blogs
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