Cue awkward silence and fidgeting with your phone. <\/p>
Much of it has to do with personal space. A study by the University of Wroclaw in Poland<\/a> asked people around the world at what distance they found the physical presence of a stranger to be uncomfortable. People in England were in the middle in terms of the spread of preferences and, for them, discomfort kicked in at anything closer than a metre \u2013 barely avoidable in many elevators.<\/p>\n Another factor is the lack of a social script. From business interviews to doctor\u2019s appointments, we navigate many situations in life by playing a role and following expected norms. But just what is the appropriate conduct when you\u2019re nose-to-nose with a stranger in a lift \u2013 stare at the ground and pretend they\u2019re not there, or strike up small talk? The good news is research shows that\u00a0a\u00a0brief chat<\/a> might not be as awkward as you expect.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Asked by: Hannah Wade, Birmingham<\/strong><\/p>\n To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Cue awkward silence and fidgeting with your phone. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":23279,"template":"","categories":[30],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/02\/why-elevator-rides-with-strangers-are-painfully-awkward-according-a-psychologist.jpg",1200,511,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/02\/why-elevator-rides-with-strangers-are-painfully-awkward-according-a-psychologist-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/02\/why-elevator-rides-with-strangers-are-painfully-awkward-according-a-psychologist-300x128.jpg",300,128,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/02\/why-elevator-rides-with-strangers-are-painfully-awkward-according-a-psychologist-768x327.jpg",768,327,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/02\/why-elevator-rides-with-strangers-are-painfully-awkward-according-a-psychologist-1024x436.jpg",800,341,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/02\/why-elevator-rides-with-strangers-are-painfully-awkward-according-a-psychologist.jpg",1200,511,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/02\/why-elevator-rides-with-strangers-are-painfully-awkward-according-a-psychologist.jpg",1200,511,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Cue awkward silence and fidgeting with your phone.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/23278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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