A Little More Social
How small acts of reaching out might reshape our relationship to existence.
I’ve been training for a couple of trail races this summer and recently discovered that I love running to audiobooks (and classical music!). I just started listening to Nicholas Epley’s A Little More Social, and the first hour of it already gave me so much to think about. The premise is straightforward: we avoid social interaction because we are too pessimistic about how people will respond when we reach out. Epley’s research shows that the conversations we dread tend to go better than we expect, and that other people are usually more glad to be approached than we assume. As an overthinking introvert, this was a relief to hear. Contrary to the voice in my head, people are probably more keen to interact than I generally believe.
In the second chapter, Epley introduces what he calls the central social choice: do you approach the person in front of you, or do you avoid them? He traces it back to Charles Darwin, who famous…
