We might love to tell others about our unusual experiences—that time we climbed Mount Everest, tasted some rare food or ran into a famous person on the street. But new research suggests: that if we s these unusual experiences with others, it may bring something uncomfortable.
"Unusual experiences are pleasant in the moment but can cause social t in the long run, "says psychological scientist Gus Cooney of Harvard University. "Some people mistakenly thought that having an unusual experience would make them the star. But they were wrong, because to be unusual is to be different from other people, and social interaction is based on something similar."
"We all h to have experiences that are fine and rare, and when we get what we want, we are always eager to tell our friends. But I've noticed that conversations always seem to develop well on more ordinary topics." Cooney explains." This made me wonder if unusual experiences were r as lovely as we had thought. "
To find out, Cooney and his colleagues had 68 people come to the lab in groups of f. In each group, one person was asked to watch a popular video of a street magician performing for a crowd, while the other three people were asked to watch an ordinary animated video. After watching the videos, the people sat around a table and had a five-minute free conversation.
After the group discussion, the people who watched the magician's performance felt w than those who watched the animated video, because they felt they were not included during the discussion.
This finding suggests that we ought to give more thought in choosing what to talk about with others. If an experience turns you into someone who has n in common with others, then no matter how good it is, it won't make you comfortable in the long run.
