Elizabeth Dunn is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. Psychologist Michael Norton is a professor at the Harvard Business School. Their research investigates what makes people happy.
Human beings are social creatures. We meet new people every day, and most of us interact with at least a few people on a daily basis. So why is it that we sometimes confine ourselves and choose to be alone? Is it better to avoid conversations with other people? Dunn and Norton don't think so.
A lot of us, when asked what we did during the day, would say we commuted using at least one mode of transportation. Most of us would also agree that we kept to ourselves through the commute. Dunn and Norton, through research, have found out that by keeping to ourselves, we miss out on forming a connection with someone who could turn out to be a great individual. Research has also shown that when we meet a stranger, we tend to perk up and feel better. This is because we want to make a good impression and it's very difficult to do so when you're lost and sad. Some of us might argue that we don't want to speak with a stranger to form a connection. Maybe we're already content with the connections that we have? For the skeptics out there, there's more than just one reason behind why you should be more socially active.
Apart from missing an opportunity to establish a connection, research into this matter has shown that interacting with random people makes us happier and more positive. Gillian M. Sandstorm, a student of Dunn and Norton, found out that the happiness we feel is directly dependent on the number of (positive) social interactions we have in a day. When we interact with people, especially strangers, we tend to talk about the things we like or enjoy doing. For example, if I was to meet someone I'd never met before, I would tell them about my hobbies and interests, and not something personal.
This is the case for most of us. When we talk about the things we enjoy doing, it makes us happy because even talking about them gives us joy and pleasure. It is only with close friends or family that we would communicate something that has been bothering us. These conversations aren't very happy and affect out mood negatively. Many of us have fewer close relations than casual ones. So, the number of times talk about random things greater than personal topics. By talking to strangers, we are only increasing the number of random and happy conversations which will lead to making us happier. The smallest and most insignificant of actions, something such as a head nod, a handshake or eye contact, uplifts our spirits and make our day better.
Furthermore, interacting with people doesn't only make us happier, it also improves our social skills and we learn to express ourselves better. Talking to people helps us in improving our communication skills and also boosts our confidence, especially if we have a positive interaction. I agree with Dunn and Norton on this; interacting with more people has a lot of advantages.
Human beings are social creatures. When we interact with others, we not only uplift our mood, but also theirs. Happiness is spread one smile at a time, and if we can make another person happy just by conversing with them for five minutes, then shouldn't we do it more frequently? The more people we talk to, the more happy people are out there and society only gets happier.
