Nicholas Epley, Ph.D.
John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavior Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
David Brooks
Staff writer for The Atlantic and the inaugural Senior Presidential Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs
A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection
Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of A Little More Social. to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
There’s a paradox at the core of human life. We are a uniquely social species — and connection is genuinely good for us — yet we routinely choose isolation over engagement. We avoid the stranger in the next seat. We stay stuck in small talk. We hold back gratitude we genuinely feel. Every day, we pass up chances to connect with strangers, colleagues, friends, and family, forfeiting the happiness and health that come with a richer social life.
Nicholas Epley, Ph.D., the John Templeton Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and faculty director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, has spent his career studying how we connect. In his new book, A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection, he explains that our social fears are built on expectations that are reliably too pessimistic. We overestimate the awkwardness of a conversation with a stranger. We underestimate how much a small gesture of appreciation will mean to the person who receives it. We reach for our phones when what we want is a real exchange.
Epley’s great insight is that the fix doesn’t require a personality overhaul. Introverts and extroverts alike benefit from nudging themselves toward slightly more social choices. Small acts, consistently practiced, have an outsized effect on the parts of life that matter most. Bridging the gap between two people is easier than we think, and the rewards are larger than we expect.
Epley will be in conversation with David Brooks, staff writer for The Atlantic and the inaugural Senior Presidential Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. He is the author of several #1 New York Times bestsellers, including The Social Animal, The Road to Character, and The Second Mountain. His most recent book is How to Know a Person.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
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ON ZOOM
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Evanston Township High School Auditorium
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
Post-event reception in ETHS’s Alumni Hall, open to all.
Churn: The Tension That Divides Us and How to Overcome It
Claude M. Steele, Ph.D.
Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Emeritus, at Stanford University
Marcus Campbell, Ed.D.
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Evanston Township High School Auditorium
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
