A talking-to-strangers tale

For all my trumpeting the work of Nick Epley at the University of Chicago, I was surprised to find that I haven't actually mentioned on UaKS his 2014 study "Mistakenly Seeking Solitude,"[1] which I see and hear cited and discussed all the time. That's the one where Epley and his colleague Juliana Schroeder instructed commuters on Chicago trains and buses to (1) connect with a stranger near them, (2) remain disconnected, or (3) commute as normal. The study participants reported a more positive experience when they connected with their fellow commuters than when they did not. (Leave those earbuds out!) But that was the opposite of what participants had expected to find, when the researchers asked them beforehand how they thought it would go. The authors' conclusion: "Human beings are social animals. Those who misunderstand the consequences of social interactions may not, in at least some contexts, be social enough for their own well-being," that is, they are "undersocial."[2] I've listened to various conversations with Epley where he talks about putting this idea into practice in his own life by constantly chatting up the people he meets everyday (including every psychologist's favorite, the barista).

Odds and ends

You already know about this one, but I can't help myself: the "Viking eruption" will forever have a place on UaKS:

 

The post-holiday baking

 

During the holidays, I looked through the Bon Appétit holiday issue on Libby and they had a really nice-looking selection of cookies ("The Hometown Cookie Collection"). The actual recipes are behind a paywall. But fortunately they printed all of them on the Good Morning America website, where they also have a nice video segment with the magazine's editor displaying all six of the cookies.

 

They honestly all look good (except the peppermint ones), and very different from the usual holiday classics. Two of them stood out to me, though, and I will try the Key Lime Pie Thumbprint Cookies eventually. But after having Mr. Graham's award-winning chocolate sandwich cookies at Christmas, I wanted to try these sandwich cookies first.

 

These are really pretty easy for a sandwich cookie, and you can be done from start to finish in not much more than an hour. The real selling point, though, is the taste, which is so distinct with the Indian flavors, including black tea leaves in the cookies and cardamom and fresh ginger in the filling. Everyone loved these, including our guest tasters Mary Alice and Graham. I'd have to say they're pretty easily a top five cookie for me now. 

Illusory superiority

One of my favorite findings in social science is the mathematically impossible (much higher than 50%) number of people who think they're above average at various things. Social scientists love to coin clever names for phenomena and this one especially. This particular cognitive bias has been called, among other things, illusory superiority, the above-average effect, superiority bias, and, my favorite, the Lake Wobegon effect, after the fictional town in Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show, where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

 

A classic study ("Are we all less risky and more skillful than our fellow drivers?") by Ola Svenson, published in 1981, demonstrated illusory superiority among drivers. Svenson found that 77% of Swedish drivers, and an incredible 88% of American drivers, believed themselves to be safer than the median driver. This study was successfully replicated by Lina Koppel and colleagues in 2023 ("We are all less risky and more skillful than our fellow drivers: Successful replication and extension of Svenson"). The new study found that over 90% of participants (all Americans) believed themselves to be safer than the median driver. Importantly, the participants in the 2023 study were 562 males and 641 females, so this was not just a guys-think-they-are-superior-drivers thing.

The holiday baking, part III

 

 

After I made the ecstatically well-received Pistachio-Cardamom Loaf Cake, I decided that loaf cakes would be a good avenue to explore. I also had an extra orange and more than half a container of whole-milk yogurt left over, so this cake seemed like a sound choice for more holiday baking.

 

I made this one while the whole fam was here, and Cassie kept insisting it was just like a lemon-poppy seed cake ... except that it doesn't have lemon or poppy seeds in it, but okay. This cake is a relatively blank canvas, however, so if you want to swap out the orange zest for lemon zest (or grapefruit or lime) and add poppy seeds (or something else), knock yourself out! You can also play around with the spice you use; cardamom (using less) would be a good choice, but I bet something more exotic like Chinese five spice powder would be interesting too. I also think this would make an excellent substitution for Classic Pound Cake when making Grandma Pina's Strawberry Cream Cake. 

The holiday baking, part II

I've been needing some good cold-weather running gear for years, so I was excited yesterday when my new merino wool socks and quarter-zip base layer arrived. I especially like the base layer, which is soft, breathable, and odor-resistant. It's also black and fits pretty sleekly. In my own mind, it gives me a smoky George Harrison Quiet Beatle loved-him-a-black-turtleneck kinda look. I checked in with Mom seeking some words of affirmation, more specifically, how hot I looked in the new shirt. Mom's response: "Black is a good color on you." Which is not exactly a rejection of my bid but is certainly no better than neutral. Mom subsequently confirmed, as I suspected, that she didn't want to tell me I'm hot in front of our boys, who were quite amused by our exchange.

  

The holiday baking, part I

Sorry for our absence, but it's been a busy one around here! There have been so many baking projects during Dylan's visit. My favorite was the night Dylan and I tried out a new all-day pizza dough project based on a focaccia recipe from Puglia (Bari more specifically). The pizza turned out pretty well but was probably not worth the effort so I won't post the recipe. Still, I did have my joy for the day (and many more) seeing Dylan sitting in front of the oven literally watching the pizza bake with childlike anticipation (and wearing Mom's fuzzy pink heart slippers while doing it). I raised a foodie!

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