Abstract
ABSTRACT We propose that the emotional quality of people’s interactions with acquaintances (i.e. weak ties) and strangers contributes to well-being. We test whether a new micro-intervention can raise the quality of these interactions. We randomized young adults (N = 335) to this connectedness micro-intervention or a control intervention. Both interventions were delivered via a psychoeducational video followed by a brief conversation with a virtual human, with whom participants developed if-then plans to carry out their assigned behavioral goal. Pre-intervention, high-quality weak-tie and stranger interactions were associated with lower loneliness and greater mental health, independent of strong-tie interaction quality. Experimental data showed that the connectedness intervention improved the emotional quality of participants’ interactions with weak ties and strangers over 2 days, evident in participants’ episodic self-reports and faster in-lab conversational response time. Discussion centers on implications for developing scalable behavioral interventions to improve well-being.
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