"I met a woman who worked at a hot dog stand near my campus in Toronto. I was doing my master's degree at the time, dealing with a lot of imposter syndrome, as many people feel when working on graduate degrees-it was also a career shift for me, so I was carrying around a lot of doubt. And somehow this little micro-relationship with her started to matter a great deal. I never bought a hot dog, never even really talked to her, but we'd smile and wave at each other. It made me feel so seen and comfortable."
"Yes, and I have a story about that. During the COVID lockdown, we were only allowed to leave the house for exercise, so I was going for walks in the park every day. One day, I was completely in my head- stressed, anxious, I don't even know what about."
Dr. Gillian Sandstrom, an associate professor at the University of Sussex, explores the science behind talking to strangers and its unexpected benefits. Her interest developed from observing her father's natural tendency to engage with strangers and from a formative experience during graduate school with a woman at a hot dog stand near her Toronto campus. Despite never purchasing food or having lengthy conversations, their simple exchanges of smiles and waves provided Sandstrom comfort during a period of self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Research demonstrates that even minimal interactions like eye contact create meaningful feelings of connection. These micro-relationships offer psychological benefits distinct from intimate relationships, challenging common assumptions about social connection and highlighting the underestimated power of small gestures in human interaction.
#stranger-interactions #social-connection #psychology-of-relationships #micro-relationships #eye-contact-and-connection
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]