Epley Nicholas, Schroeder Juliana
Booth School of Business.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2014 Oct;143(5):1980-99. doi: 10.1037/a0037323. Epub 2014 Jul 14.
Connecting with others increases happiness, but strangers in close proximity routinely ignore each other. Why? Two reasons seem likely: Either solitude is a more positive experience than interacting with strangers, or people misunderstand the consequences of distant social connections. To examine the experience of connecting to strangers, we instructed commuters on trains and buses to connect with a stranger near them, to remain disconnected, or to commute as normal (Experiments 1a and 2a). In both contexts, participants reported a more positive (and no less productive) experience when they connected than when they did not. Separate participants in each context, however, expected precisely the opposite outcome, predicting a more positive experience in solitude (Experiments 1b and 2b). This mistaken preference for solitude stems partly from underestimating others' interest in connecting (Experiments 3a and 3b), which in turn keeps people from learning the actual consequences of social interaction (Experiments 4a and 4b). The pleasure of connection seems contagious: In a laboratory waiting room, participants who were talked to had equally positive experiences as those instructed to talk (Experiment 5). Human beings are social animals. Those who misunderstand the consequences of social interactions may not, in at least some contexts, be social enough for their own well-being.
与他人建立联系会增加幸福感，但近距离的陌生人通常会彼此忽视。为什么呢？可能有两个原因：要么独处是比与陌生人互动更积极的体验，要么人们误解了远距离社交联系的后果。为了研究与陌生人建立联系的体验，我们指导火车和公交车上的通勤者与身边的陌生人建立联系、保持不联系状态或正常通勤（实验1a和2a）。在这两种情况下，参与者报告说，与不建立联系相比，建立联系时的体验更积极（且效率不低）。然而，在每种情况下，另一组参与者却恰恰预期了相反的结果，预测独处时会有更积极的体验（实验1b和2b）。这种对独处的错误偏好部分源于低估了他人建立联系的兴趣（实验3a和3b），这反过来又使人们无法了解社交互动的实际后果（实验4a和4b）。建立联系的愉悦似乎具有感染力：在实验室候诊室里，与他人交谈的参与者和被指示交谈的参与者有着同样积极的体验（实验5）。人类是社会性动物。那些误解社交互动后果的人，至少在某些情况下，可能没有为了自身幸福而进行足够的社交。
