The guy who takes tickets in the office parking garage.

The colleague in another department who used to take a coffee break at the same time as you.

The parents at monthly PTA meetings.

The commuters you shared a subway car with every morning.

Remember them?

Before the pandemic, these wide circles of acquaintances and strangers were the backdrop of our daily lives,

familiar, comforting, something we took for granted. Over the past year, as many of us have lamented

our physical separation from close friends and family, how many of us have thought about missing

those casual connections? When's the last time you actually spoke to a stranger? And despite the

fact that so many of us profess to dislike making small talk, it turns out that these kinds of

connections and conversations actually strengthen our mental health and enrich our lives. So what do we

gain from meeting new people and chatting with strangers? What have we been missing out on this past year?

And as life begins to go back to normal in the coming months, we hope,

how can we become better at meeting new people and embracing the opportunity to talk to strangers?

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association

that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life.

I'm Kim Mills.

We have two guests today.

Dr. Gillian Sandstrom is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Essex in the

United Kingdom.

She studies what she calls minimal social interactions and has found that despite many people's

reluctance to talk to strangers, these interactions are usually enjoyable and actually

...