與陌生人交談好處多多，對健康也有益？

Talking to strangers

與陌生人聊天

‘It’s good to talk’, so some people say. When I commute into London, there are certainly plenty of people conversing on their mobile phones – sometimes too loudly – discussing and sharing personal details with a friend. For me, it’s strange that they talk as though the person is sitting next to them, when they don’t even acknowledge the person who is actually sitting beside them.

有些人會說:“聊天真好”。當(dāng)我乘車去倫敦的時候，肯定有很多人在用手機(jī)交談——有時聲音太大——和朋友討論和分享個人細(xì)節(jié)。對我來說，奇怪的是，他們說話的時候好像旁邊坐著一個人，而實(shí)際上坐在他們旁邊的人卻連招呼都不打。

Many of us spend part of each day surrounded by strangers, whether on our daily commute, or sitting in a park or a cafe. But most of them remain just that – strangers. However, new evidence has shown that plucking up the courage to strike up a conversation might be good for our health.

我們很多人每天都會有一部分時間被陌生人包圍，無論是在上下班的路上，還是坐在公園或咖啡館里。但他們中的大多數(shù)人仍然只是陌生人。然而，新的證據(jù)表明，鼓起勇氣開始交談可能對我們的健康有好處。

Nicholas Epley from the University of Chicago and Juliana Schroeder from the University of California are behavioural scientists. They looked at this silent relationship and whether solitude is a more positive experience than interacting with strangers, or if people misunderstand the consequences of distant social connections. They found that many people feel uncomfortable and intimidated talking to others and their research suggested that when we make an initial conversation “we consistently underestimate how much a new person likes us.” It seems we carry a negative voice in our head telling us all the things that could go wrong and why someone wouldn’t want to converse with us.

芝加哥大學(xué)的尼古拉斯·埃普利和加利福尼亞大學(xué)的朱莉安娜·施羅德是行為科學(xué)家。他們研究了這種沉默的關(guān)系，以及與陌生人互動相比，獨(dú)處是否是一種更積極的體驗(yàn)，或者人們是否誤解了遠(yuǎn)距離社交的后果。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，許多人在與他人交談時感到不自在和膽怯，他們的研究表明，當(dāng)我們進(jìn)行第一次交談時，“我們總是低估了一個新認(rèn)識的人對我們的喜愛程度。”我們的腦海中似乎有一個消極的聲音，告訴我們所有的事都會搞砸，以及為什么有人不想和我們交談。

Their research involved an experiment with a group of Chicago commuters and found that “every participant in our experiment who actually tried to talk to a stranger found the person sitting next to them was happy to chat.” From this and other research, the conclusion is that connecting with strangers is surprisingly pleasant and it has a positive impact on our wellbeing. Gillian Sandstrom, a social psychologist from Essex University in the UK, told the BBC that “people are in a better mood after they reach out and have a conversation, however minimal.” It’s true that talking can make you feel happier and happiness can lead to better mental health.

他們的研究涉及到一組芝加哥通勤者的實(shí)驗(yàn)，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)“在我們的實(shí)驗(yàn)中，每個試圖和陌生人交談的參與者都發(fā)現(xiàn)坐在他們旁邊的人很樂意交談。”從這項(xiàng)研究和其他研究中得出的結(jié)論是，與陌生人交流令人驚喜，而且對我們的健康有積極的影響。英國埃塞克斯大學(xué)的社會心理學(xué)家吉莉安·桑德斯特倫告訴BBC，“人們在與人交談后心情會更好，盡管交談的內(nèi)容很少。”的確，交談能讓你感覺更快樂，而快樂能帶來更好的心理健康。

However, if you’re an introvert, the thought of speaking to someone new might make you anxious. But the American research found “both extroverts and introverts are happier when they are asked to behave in an extroverted manner.” So maybe, if you’re a loner, it’s time to come out of your shell and make some small talk with a stranger – it could be the beginning of a new friendship.

然而，如果你是個內(nèi)向的人，一想到要和陌生人說話，你就會感到焦慮。但美國的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，“當(dāng)被要求表現(xiàn)得外向時，外向者和內(nèi)向者都更快樂。”所以，如果你是一個孤獨(dú)的人，也許是時候融入外部世界，和陌生人聊聊天了——這可能是一段新友誼的開始。