Talking to Strangers to Alter Pessimistic Views of Social Interaction

Grace Peng, Undecided, Emory University • June 1, 2026

Feelings of belonging and connection within a community—most often fostered through social interaction—are crucial to well-being. However, people’s perceptions of social interaction are often clouded by pessimistic assumptions, such as believing others do not want to talk to them, underestimating their own conversational abilities, or holding negative beliefs about how others perceive them (Sandstrom et al., 2022). These fears can manifest through “civil inattention,” a term characterized by avoidance behaviors such as plugging in headphones or remaining glued to one’s phone (Sandstrom et al., 2022). Overreliance on these behaviors can cultivate what Ozawa de-Silva (2021) describes as a “lonely society,” emphasizing the need to encourage stronger social bonds within communities. The following review summarizes a week-long scavenger hunt conducted among university students by Sandstrom et al. (2022), in which participants completed challenges that involved either observing or talking with strangers. The researchers aimed, first, to support existing findings that people underestimate their ability to converse with others and, second, to demonstrate that talking to strangers can lead to positive experiences, revealing that many social fears are exaggerated. More broadly, the study sought to act as an intervention by showing that repeated exposure to positive interactions with strangers could encourage more positive attitudes toward social interaction. 1 Ozawa-de-Silva (2021) defines the term “lonely society” as a society that fosters feelings of irrelevance or lack of care due to pre-existing structures that hinder belonging and connectedness.



An initial total of 436 participants, randomly selected from two universities, were tasked with completing a week-long, multi-site scavenger hunt using a mobile app called GooseChase. Throughout the study, the sample size was reduced to 286 participants due to experimenter error, pre-registration exclusion criteria, participant dropout, or failure of honesty checks. Participants were divided into two experimental groups: a control group of 72 participants who were instructed to observe strangers throughout the intervention, and a treatment group of 156 participants who were instructed to talk to strangers. To measure changes in expectations and reactions toward social interaction, participants completed a “General” survey at the beginning and end of the one-week period, along with a follow-up survey one week later. In addition, participants completed “Daily” surveys before and after interactions with strangers to examine the psychological effects of the treatment on their attitudes. These daily surveys analyzed factors such as expectations of rejection, perceived conversational ability, expectations of awkwardness and enjoyment, and the positivity of social interactions.

Upon completion of the scavenger hunt, Sandstrom et al.’s (2022) findings demonstrated an overall improvement in attitudes toward social interaction among participants in the treatment group compared to those in the control group. Results from the “General” surveys showed that participants in the treatment group experienced greater decreases in expectations of rejection when initiating conversations with strangers, and these improvements remained consistent during the one-week follow-up. In contrast, the control group showed little change in feelings of rejection after simply observing strangers over the same time period. This decrease in expectations of rejection suggests that people became more willing to engage in social communication, supporting Sandstrom et al.’s goal of fostering more positive attitudes toward interactions with strangers.

Additionally, the intervention appeared to influence participants’ behaviors. After the one-week follow-up survey, participants in the treatment group reported engaging in conversations with strangers more frequently. Although behavioral analysis was secondary to examining attitudes, these findings demonstrated that the intervention not only made participants feel more comfortable interacting with strangers, but also increased feelings of self-confidence, further encouraging social engagement. Overall, Sandstrom et al.’s scavenger hunt intervention demonstrates significant therapeutic potential for fostering social connection within communities and reducing feelings of loneliness.

While the primary focus of this review is to summarize Sandstrom et al.’s (2022) intervention, the following discussion draws on Ozawa-de-Silva’s (2021) literature to further contextualize the study’s real-world implications. In 2017, public officials began declaring loneliness a growing public health issue, while researchers identified social isolation as a contributor to reduced lifespan (Ozawa-de-Silva, 2021). The intervention examined in this study—centered around repeated exposure to positive interactions with strangers—offers a novel approach to shifting socially avoidant attitudes and behaviors into ones that encourage connection. Sandstrom et al.’s findings open an important conversation about challenging the threat loneliness poses by inspiring the implementation of similar interventions that promote pro-social behaviors and strengthen belonging within communities.

Despite these promising findings, one major limitation of the study is its lack of external validity, as the gamified nature of the scavenger hunt may not translate easily to real-world experiences, and the sample of university students may not be representative of the broader population (Sandstrom et al., 2022). It is also important to consider Ozawa-de-Silva’s (2021) concept of a lonely society, in which loneliness may be disproportionately experienced among neglected or marginalized populations. To address this limitation, Sandstrom et al.’s study could be expanded to populations outside of university students, particularly communities more vulnerable to loneliness, such as minority and immigrant groups. Doing so could help determine how variations of this intervention might interact with existing social structures to cultivate belonging and connection. While there is significant potential for this treatment to support vulnerable populations on a larger scale, the study also demonstrates, especially for students, the value of overcoming pessimism and taking the opportunity to connect with peers and classmates as one step toward combating loneliness.


Author:

Grace Peng, Undecided, Emory University

Editor:

Mary Yeboah, Emory University


Articles Reviewed:

Ozawa-de Silva, C. (2021). Introduction: Disconnected people and the lonely society. The anatomy of loneliness: Suicide, social connection, and the search for relational meaning in contemporary Japan (pp. 1-17). University of California Press. 

https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv21r3j52 


Sandstrom, G. M., Boothby, E. J., & Cooney, G. (2022). Talking to strangers: A week-long intervention reduces psychological barriers to social connection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 102, 104356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104356



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