On 27 October 1904 in New York, Mayor George McClellan started the first subway train. It was about nine miles of line and twenty-eight stations, from City Hall to Harlem by way of Times Square. At seven in the evening it opened to the public: for a nickel, more than a hundred thousand people wanted to try it. For years many had considered it an impossible undertaking.
Today public transport is often the place where we are closest to other people and furthest from them: sitting a few centimetres from strangers, eyes on our phones. The reason is usually a belief we take for granted: talking to a stranger will be annoying, for us and for them.
Two psychologists, Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder, put this idea to the test. In 2014, in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, they published nine experiments, including ones with train and bus commuters in Chicago. One group was asked to get to know someone nearby, another to stay quiet and alone, a third to travel as usual. Those who talked with a stranger described a more positive journey than those who stayed alone, while productivity did not differ. Yet when another group was asked to predict how it would go, they forecast the opposite: better alone. According to the authors, partly because we underestimate how interested others are in talking, and partly because we lack experiences that would correct this belief.
A few cautions: the first public-transport experiments involved a few dozen people each, in one specific context, Chicago commuters. They do not say everyone enjoys chatting every day: silence remains a legitimate choice, and there are times when we want to be alone.
What can we do with it? A suggestion of our own, not the study’s: on your next bus ride, at the café or in a waiting room, try a hello, a “good morning” or a remark about the weather. If no answer comes, no problem. If one does, you may discover that the city above and below your feet is also made of people who were only waiting for a nod.
Has it ever happened to you to have a lovely chat with a stranger? Tell me in the comments how it went.
Sources
- Epley N., Schroeder J. (2014). Mistakenly seeking solitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(5), 1980-1999, DOI 10.1037/a0037323.
- History.com Editors, “New York City subway opens” (27 October 1904), history.com.
- Tenement Museum, “On this day, 1904: first underground subway”, tenement.org.
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