Back in 2013, two academics, Gillian Sandstrom and Elizabeth Dunn conducted a social experiment. They wanted to know whether people who had a social interaction with a barista experienced more positive affect than those who did not.
You guessed it! Their results show people who had a smiled, made eye contact, and had a brief conversation with the barista, turned out to be more pleased with their experience because of the feelings of belonging.
Their initial evidence reveal that these effects were mediated by feelings of belonging. These results suggest that, although people are often reluctant to have a genuine social interaction with a stranger, they are happier when they treat a stranger like a weak tie.
So – why not start your happy to chat journey from your next cup of coffee? Try not always be in a rush, but embrace the opportunities to transform potentially impersonal, instrumental exchanges into genuine social interactions!
To find out more about this research, you can read it here.
Sandstrom, G. M., & Dunn, E. W. (2014). Is Efficiency Overrated?: Minimal Social Interactions Lead to Belonging and Positive Affect. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(4), 437–442. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550613502990
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