Living next to good neighbors can greatly enhance our quality of life. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true—a bad neighbor can make our lives utterly miserable. From nonsensical messages to frustrating interactions, dealing with problematic neighbors can be challenging. To shed light on this issue, Bored Panda reached out to social psychologist Alison Jane Martingano, Ph.D., for insights on connecting with neighbors and developing empathy towards difficult individuals.
According to Martingano, most adults miss out on the benefits of engaging with unfamiliar people due to various reasons: lack of intention, lack of competence, and lack of opportunity. Many individuals underestimate the joy that conversations with strangers can bring and often assume that these interactions will go poorly. However, research shows that people actually enjoy conversations with strangers more than they expect.
