Talking to Strangers: A Week-Long Intervention Reduces Psychological Barriers to Social Connection
Sandstrom, Boothby & Cooney (2022) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 102
Relied on in 1 place across the academy
What it found
A week of repeatedly approaching strangers substantially reduced fear of rejection relative to controls, and the reduction persisted at least a week after the intervention ended.
What it does not show
A one-week intervention with self-reported outcomes. It shows the barriers to talking to strangers come down over a week of doing it; it does not follow anybody far enough to show the change lasts.
Where we rely on it
1 place in the academy. If this paper turned out to be wrong, this is the list that would have to change.
In the films · 1
Cited alongside it
Papers that sit under the same topics and films. Not a claim that they agree with each other — only that the same exercises lean on both.
The Liking Gap in Conversations: Do People Like Us More Than We Think?
Boothby, Cooney, Sandstrom & Clark (2018)Mistakenly Seeking Solitude
Epley & Schroeder (2014)Overly Shallow?: Miscalibrated Expectations Create a Barrier to Deeper Conversation
Kardas, Kumar & Epley (2022)Research
A real study. We tell you what it found, how many people were in it, and what it can't prove.
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