Undergoing an experience with another person — even if we do it in silence, with someone we met just moments ago — seems to intensify that experience, according to new research published in Psychological Science. The research shows that people who share experiences with another person rate those experiences as more pleasant or unpleasant than those who undergo the experience on their own.

“We often think that what matters in social life is being together with others, but we’ve found it also really matters what those people are doing,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Erica Boothby of Yale University.

“When people are paying attention to the same pleasant thing, whether the Mona Lisa or a song on the radio, our research shows that the experience is much more pleasurable. And the reverse is true of unpleasant experiences — not sharing them makes them more pleasurable, while sharing them makes them worse.”

Thinking about shared experiences like going to the movies or viewing art in museums, Boothby and Yale colleagues Margaret Clark and John Bargh wanted to explore the consequences of sharing experiences that unfold socially but silently.

In their first […]