閑聊或深入交談會(huì)讓你更快樂嗎?

閑聊或深入交談會(huì)讓你更快樂嗎?

A feeling of social connection is key to happiness for most people. That doesn't mean the same thing for everyone, of course, and many of us also need some alone time every day. In general, though, both introverts and extraverts report feeling happier and more connected when they interact more with other people.

對(duì)大多數(shù)人來說，社會(huì)關(guān)系是幸福的關(guān)鍵。當(dāng)然，這并不意味著每個(gè)人都是一樣的，我們很多人每天也需要一些獨(dú)處的時(shí)間。不過，總的來說，內(nèi)向者和外向者都表示，當(dāng)他們與他人進(jìn)行更多的互動(dòng)時(shí)，他們會(huì)感到更快樂，更有歸屬感。

Deeper, more personal conversations may be especially rewarding for introverted people. (Photo: Marco Lissoni/Shutterstock)

Halo effects

暈輪效應(yīng)

"At first glance, it seems that a plethora of studies show that the quality of social experience is related to well-being," the researchers write in the preprint study, which is awaiting publication in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. But most of that research is based on self-reported data from study participants, they explain, which limits how confident we can be about its findings.

“乍一看，似乎有大量的研究表明，社會(huì)經(jīng)驗(yàn)的質(zhì)量與幸福感有關(guān)，”研究人員在預(yù)印本研究中寫道，該研究正在等待發(fā)表在《人格與社會(huì)心理學(xué)雜志》(Journal of Personality and social Psychology)上。但他們解釋說，大多數(shù)研究都是基于參與者自我報(bào)告的數(shù)據(jù)，這限制了我們對(duì)研究結(jié)果的信心。

Our patterns of social interaction may affect our well-being more than we realize. (Photo: pudiq/Shutterstock)

When a study uses self-reported data to measure both well-being and the quality of social interactions, the study's authors add, the nature of the associations is muddled. "Such studies likely produce inflated estimates of the association between the quality of social interactions and well-being," the researchers write.

該研究的作者補(bǔ)充說，當(dāng)一項(xiàng)研究使用自我報(bào)告的數(shù)據(jù)來衡量幸福感和社會(huì)交往的質(zhì)量時(shí)，這種關(guān)聯(lián)的性質(zhì)就變得混亂了。研究人員寫道:“這樣的研究可能會(huì)夸大社會(huì)交往質(zhì)量與幸福感之間的聯(lián)系。”

Lend me your EAR

聽我說

Meals can provide a good opportunity for deeper conversation. (Photo: Alexandre Rotenberg/Shutterstock)

Instead of relying solely on self reports, the new study also used actual recordings of social interactions. The researchers recruited 256 college students, who first took questionnaires in the lab to measure how introverted or extraverted they were.

這項(xiàng)新研究不僅依靠自我報(bào)告，還使用了真實(shí)的社會(huì)互動(dòng)記錄。研究人員招募了256名大學(xué)生，他們首先在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里填寫問卷，以衡量他們的內(nèi)向程度或外向程度。

Next came two parallel phases. In one, participants self-reported about their own daily social interactions, via brief surveys they took four times a day for two weeks.

接下來是兩個(gè)平行的階段。在一項(xiàng)研究中，參與者在兩周的時(shí)間里每天進(jìn)行四次簡(jiǎn)短的調(diào)查，然后自我匯報(bào)自己的日常社交活動(dòng)。

Most participants also wore an electronically activated recorder (EAR), which was programmed to record 30-second audio clips every 9.5 minutes from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. They were encouraged to wear the device as much as possible for about a week, and although they didn't know when it was recording, they were allowed to remove it at any time for any reason. After three to four days, they returned to the lab to upload their data, then wore the EAR for another three to four days before giving it back.

大多數(shù)參與者還戴著一個(gè)電子激活錄音機(jī)(EAR)，它被設(shè)定為從早上7點(diǎn)到下午2點(diǎn)每隔9.5分鐘錄制30秒的音頻片段。他們被鼓勵(lì)盡可能多地戴上這個(gè)設(shè)備大約一周，盡管他們不知道它是什么時(shí)候錄制的，但他們可以在任何時(shí)間以任何理由摘掉它。三到四天之后，他們回到實(shí)驗(yàn)室上傳他們的數(shù)據(jù)，然后再戴上耳朵三到四天，然后歸還。

Quantity and quality

數(shù)量和質(zhì)量

In general, both introverts and extraverts tend to feel buoyed by even brief chats. (Photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The results suggest that, within each individual, "some social interactions feel more rewarding than others, at least in the moment," the researchers write. They also compared results between individuals, hoping to learn if people who consistently have higher-quality interactions feel happier and more connected in general. That is what the self-reported data suggested, although the observer ratings didn't back it up, leaving us without a clear answer for now. (At the least, however, this seems to illustrate the risks of drawing conclusions from self-reported data alone).

研究人員寫道，研究結(jié)果表明，在每個(gè)人體內(nèi)，“一些社會(huì)互動(dòng)感覺比其他的更有價(jià)值，至少在此刻是這樣。”他們還比較了不同個(gè)體之間的結(jié)果，希望了解那些經(jīng)常進(jìn)行高質(zhì)量互動(dòng)的人是否總體上感覺更快樂、聯(lián)系更緊密。這是自我報(bào)告的數(shù)據(jù)所暗示的，盡管觀察者的評(píng)級(jí)沒有支持它，讓我們目前沒有一個(gè)明確的答案。(然而，這至少說明了僅從自我報(bào)告的數(shù)據(jù)中得出結(jié)論的風(fēng)險(xiǎn))。

Small talk, big talk

閑聊，深談

Deeper conversations are often built on a foundation that began with small talk. (Photo: Mark Benham/Shutterstock)

Humans are social animals, and small talk seems to be an important tool for navigating the complex social environments we create for ourselves. The new study supports the idea that small talk — while maybe not as fulfilling as deeper conversations overall — is a key part of the human experience, helping us build trust with strangers and develop relationships with acquaintances.

人類是社會(huì)性動(dòng)物，閑聊似乎是我們?cè)跒樽约簞?chuàng)造的復(fù)雜社會(huì)環(huán)境中導(dǎo)航的重要工具。這項(xiàng)新研究支持了這樣一種觀點(diǎn)，即閑聊——雖然總體上可能不如深入交談那樣令人滿足——是人類體驗(yàn)的一個(gè)關(guān)鍵部分，它幫助我們與陌生人建立信任，并與熟人發(fā)展關(guān)系。

Small talk also lets us demonstrate our own friendliness and social skills to others, which can pay off in multiple ways. It may help us win friends, allies and business partners, for example, and it can also help us feel happier and more socially connected — even if we're introverted. That doesn't mean it affects us all equally, of course, or that it makes sense in every context. It just means we shouldn't broadly blame small talk for the occasions when it doesn't go well.

閑聊還能讓我們向別人展示自己的友善和社交技巧，這可以通過多種方式得到回報(bào)。例如，它可以幫助我們贏得朋友、盟友和商業(yè)伙伴，它還可以幫助我們感到更快樂、更有社交聯(lián)系——即使我們性格內(nèi)向。當(dāng)然，這并不意味著它對(duì)我們所有人的影響都是平等的，也不意味著它在任何情況下都有意義。這只是意味著，我們不應(yīng)該在談話不順利的情況下泛泛地責(zé)怪閑聊。