与陌生人交谈好处多多，对健康也有益？

Talking to strangers

与陌生人聊天

‘It’s good to talk’, so some people say. When I commute into London, there are certainly plenty of people conversing on their mobile phones – sometimes too loudly – discussing and sharing personal details with a friend. For me, it’s strange that they talk as though the person is sitting next to them, when they don’t even acknowledge the person who is actually sitting beside them.

有些人会说:“聊天真好”。当我乘车去伦敦的时候，肯定有很多人在用手机交谈——有时声音太大——和朋友讨论和分享个人细节。对我来说，奇怪的是，他们说话的时候好像旁边坐着一个人，而实际上坐在他们旁边的人却连招呼都不打。

Many of us spend part of each day surrounded by strangers, whether on our daily commute, or sitting in a park or a cafe. But most of them remain just that – strangers. However, new evidence has shown that plucking up the courage to strike up a conversation might be good for our health.

我们很多人每天都会有一部分时间被陌生人包围，无论是在上下班的路上，还是坐在公园或咖啡馆里。但他们中的大多数人仍然只是陌生人。然而，新的证据表明，鼓起勇气开始交谈可能对我们的健康有好处。

Nicholas Epley from the University of Chicago and Juliana Schroeder from the University of California are behavioural scientists. They looked at this silent relationship and whether solitude is a more positive experience than interacting with strangers, or if people misunderstand the consequences of distant social connections. They found that many people feel uncomfortable and intimidated talking to others and their research suggested that when we make an initial conversation “we consistently underestimate how much a new person likes us.” It seems we carry a negative voice in our head telling us all the things that could go wrong and why someone wouldn’t want to converse with us.

芝加哥大学的尼古拉斯·埃普利和加利福尼亚大学的朱莉安娜·施罗德是行为科学家。他们研究了这种沉默的关系，以及与陌生人互动相比，独处是否是一种更积极的体验，或者人们是否误解了远距离社交的后果。他们发现，许多人在与他人交谈时感到不自在和胆怯，他们的研究表明，当我们进行第一次交谈时，“我们总是低估了一个新认识的人对我们的喜爱程度。”我们的脑海中似乎有一个消极的声音，告诉我们所有的事都会搞砸，以及为什么有人不想和我们交谈。

Their research involved an experiment with a group of Chicago commuters and found that “every participant in our experiment who actually tried to talk to a stranger found the person sitting next to them was happy to chat.” From this and other research, the conclusion is that connecting with strangers is surprisingly pleasant and it has a positive impact on our wellbeing. Gillian Sandstrom, a social psychologist from Essex University in the UK, told the BBC that “people are in a better mood after they reach out and have a conversation, however minimal.” It’s true that talking can make you feel happier and happiness can lead to better mental health.

他们的研究涉及到一组芝加哥通勤者的实验，研究发现“在我们的实验中，每个试图和陌生人交谈的参与者都发现坐在他们旁边的人很乐意交谈。”从这项研究和其他研究中得出的结论是，与陌生人交流令人惊喜，而且对我们的健康有积极的影响。英国埃塞克斯大学的社会心理学家吉莉安·桑德斯特伦告诉BBC，“人们在与人交谈后心情会更好，尽管交谈的内容很少。”的确，交谈能让你感觉更快乐，而快乐能带来更好的心理健康。

However, if you’re an introvert, the thought of speaking to someone new might make you anxious. But the American research found “both extroverts and introverts are happier when they are asked to behave in an extroverted manner.” So maybe, if you’re a loner, it’s time to come out of your shell and make some small talk with a stranger – it could be the beginning of a new friendship.

然而，如果你是个内向的人，一想到要和陌生人说话，你就会感到焦虑。但美国的研究发现，“当被要求表现得外向时，外向者和内向者都更快乐。”所以，如果你是一个孤独的人，也许是时候融入外部世界，和陌生人聊聊天了——这可能是一段新友谊的开始。