Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago and Juliana Schroeder asked commuter train and bus riders to do one of three things. Some were to talk to a stranger. Some were to sit alone. The rest were to do what they normally did. The riders who talked to a stranger “reported having the most positive experience.”
When asked to predict, people “predicted precisely the opposite pattern of experiences.” They “underestimated others’ interest in connecting.” The university announced the study in July 2014 under the headline “Mom was wrong: You should talk to strangers.”