科学美国人60秒 与陌生人说话会让人愉悦

Consider the times you’ve hopped¹ on a subway, boarded a plane or entered a waiting room. Chances are, you probably avoided engaging with any fellow commuters or patients. But contrary to what we might think, we’d be happier if we did strike up a conversation with a total stranger.

细想一下，多少次你跳上地铁，登上飞机，或进入医院等候室。很有可能，你可能想避免与任何乘客或病人接触，但是与我们所想象的相反的是，如果我们与一个陌生人聊起天来，会给我们带来快乐的。

In a study, commuters in Chicago were asked to either talk with a stranger on a train, or sit quietly alone, or just do whatever they’d normally do on their commute². Then, they responded to a survey about how they felt.

在一项研究中，芝加哥的乘客被要求，要么在火车上和一个陌生人交谈，要么一直独自静静地坐着，或者做他们通常会做的。然后，他们向研究者表达自己的感受。

Turns out those who engaged with strangers had the most pleasurable experience and those who remained solitary³ had the least enjoyable experience. These answers were compared with another group that did not participate but instead had to predict how they might feel in each situation. This group thought talking with strangers would be the least enjoyable, by far. The study is the journal of Experimental Psychology⁴. [Nicholas Epley & Juliana Schroeder: Mistakenly Seeking Solitude]

结果显示最愉快的是那些与陌生人谈话的，最不开心的是那些依然独处的。而相比这些调查结果，还有一组人并没有参与其中，目的是为了让他们预测一下自己在前两种情况下会各有什么感受。而到目前为止，这组人认为，与陌生人交谈是最不愉快的。这项研究被发表在《实验心理学》杂志上。

So despite being social animals and enjoying social engagement, we avoid chatting with strangers. Why? Well, according to a follow up study it’s because we think, wrongly, that strangers don’t want to talk with us. The one way to get over this is to practice reaching out – who knows, commuting⁵ could become more enjoyable.

—Christie Nicholson

所以尽管我们是社会动物，享受于社交活动之中，但我们却仍避免与陌生人交流，这是为什么呢?嗯，根据一项后续研究表明，是因为我们错误的认为陌生人不想和我们聊天。而克服这个问题的方法之一就是去亲身实践——谁知道会怎样呢?坐车上下班或许会变得更愉快。——克里斯蒂·尼克尔森

1 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

2 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

3 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

4 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

5 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。