On a new podcast episode, a behavioral scientist explores how your health and happiness benefit from conversations with strangers, family, or friends.
As humans, we have a biological need for connecting with others, but in today’s modern world, we tend to avoid it.
This paradox is something that Professor Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has been fixated on in his research.
In his new book, A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection (Penguin Random House, 2026), Epley shows why we consistently underestimate the positive impact of reaching out to others.
From experiments tracking commuters on the train to deep conversations with hedge fund executives, Epley reveals that our beliefs about social interaction are often “precisely backwards” leading us to choose solitude even when engagement would make us happier and healthier:
Source: University of Chicago
