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Research

Is Efficiency Overrated? Minimal Social Interactions Lead to Belonging and Positive Affect

Sandstrom & Dunn (2014) · Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(4)

Relied on in 1 place across the academy · 1 stated limit

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What it found

People sent into a coffee shop and asked to have a brief genuine exchange with the barista — eye contact, a smile, a short conversation — left in a better mood than those told to be as efficient as possible, with early evidence the difference ran through feeling they belonged.

What it does not show

A single field experiment at one coffee shop, with mood measured on the way out. The authors themselves call the belonging mechanism initial evidence. It is about a stranger behind a counter, not about somebody you will see again.

And where we carry it further

A single visit with a member of staff, measured minutes later. It says nothing about the other regular across the room.

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. Some of the instructions below are part of Gold; none of the findings are.

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.

Research

A real study. We tell you what it found, how many people were in it, and what it can't prove.

Free to read, link to and quote. If we have carried this paper further than it goes, say so at contact@suaviq.com — corrections to this registry are the most useful mail we get.