Imagining the long run together can bring people closer together in the current

Warm sun in your face, a mild salty breeze, the sound of the ocean waves. Your friend seriously suggests browsing lessons and also you each laugh as you imagine the 2 of you tumbling awkwardly through the water.

Could imagining that beach road trip together bring you closer together before you even pack your bags? Is imagining a future together step one to creating one?

From family and friends to partners and acquaintances, individuals are continuously collaborating to assume shared experiences – things as quirky as fantasies, as mundane as what to eat for dinner, or as momentous as the long run of our politics and our planet.

However, social scientists traditionally study imagination as a person psychological process.

Our Research within the Laboratory for Imagination and Cognition on the University at Albany, SUNY, has studied the varied ways during which imagination can influence people’s social and emotional lives. While “imagination” can check with many various ideas and processes, Form of imagination The focus of our work is on the flexibility to mentally create and represent recent, hypothetical, personal experiences which are specific to time and place.

To bridge the gap between psychologists’ understanding of a person’s imagination and the impact of social interactions on this cognitive process, we recently proposed a brand new framework, shared imagination – what we call co-imagination, which presents imagination as an interactive, shared creative process between two or more people, during which they converse and work together to construct a shared representation of a specific possible experience.

With our colleagues Daniela Palombo And Christopher Madanwe desired to explore how sharing an idea of ​​a future along with another person can affect the connection.

A change from studying individual ideas to collective

Your ability to assume the long run as a person can influence the way in which you navigate your social world.

From job interviews to first dates to family reunions, people often think about future events that involve others. This tendency not only helps you plan and prepare for Future opportunitiesbut it will probably also serve Important functions in reference to social bonding, empathy and moral Decision making.

Such research has helped psychologists understand the central role that other people and social dynamics can play in a person’s imagination, and the way imagined experiences can affect people’s social lives. In addition, other areas akin to philosophy And sociology has shown at group level how people and institutions common worldviews and understanding of Future opportunities.

Previous studies have focused either on the person or the social collective, largely overlooking the likelihood that imagination can arise within the context of interpersonal interactions.

We desired to learn how shared imagination can influence feelings of closeness. In the primary psychological experiment to look at this interactive process, we paired strangers to finish a shared imagination task. They needed to work together to assume and describe a positive, shared future experience that would realistically occur – akin to happening a hike within the woods together or meeting for dinner at a restaurant. We asked for details, including where and when the event would happen, what people would do, and the way they’d feel.

To rule out other possible explanations for the consequences we’d observe, we had other volunteers complete one in all two alternative tasks. One group of participants worked in pairs on an interactive task that didn’t require imagination, akin to putting together a puzzle. Another group of participants worked independently, imagining a future experience that they shared with their partner.

After completing the duty, all participants answered questions on how close and connected they felt to their study partner.

Closeness through shared imagination

When we compared how participants in each group thought of their study partner, we found a consistent effect: individuals who jointly imagined a shared future felt closer and more connected to their partner than those that independently imagined a shared future and people who collaborated on an unrelated task. This finding demonstrates how shared imagination can foster recent social relationships by allowing people to form deeper connections through co-creating imagined experiences in possible shared futures.

We were also fascinated by whether sharing a standard future could possibly be a way for people to develop similar visions of what the long run might bring. To make clear this query, we used computer tools that analyze language – so-called Natural language processing – to check the similarity between the narratives each partner provided while independently describing the events they’d previously imagined together.

We found that individuals who collaborated on imagining shared similar narratives about this shared future, suggesting that shared imagining could also be a way for people to develop a shared understanding of possible future experiences.

Furthermore, this study provided the primary experimental evidence that in our personal lives, we don’t at all times imagine future experiences alone. Rather, people can imagine a future by imagining it together, developing a shared understanding of what that future might hold, and in the method, growing closer to 1 one other and constructing a stronger connection.

Other possible effects of shared imagination

While our research has begun to make clear the importance of shared imagination, it also raises several recent and interesting questions.

What is the function of shared imagination in existing close relationships? Shared imagination of a shared future appears to be a part of on a regular basis life with the people closest to 1, from family and friends to romantic partners. In fact, we suspect it might be vital for each the formation and maintenance of close relationships usually.

While psychological research on imagination has not yet directly examined these questions, other studies find that a person's imagination of an experience with a companion can: Feelings of heat and loveIt is feasible that such effects are enhanced should you imagine this shared experience together with your partner.

Another vital Function of imagination within the broadest sense Is Improving your ability to successfully pursue goals. Could shared imagination be a very powerful approach to work toward relationship-focused goals by allowing relationship partners to develop a shared vision of what pursuing and achieving a specific goal might entail?

For example, a pair who need to move in together can imagine cooking together of their recent shared apartment. Imagining this shared future together could give each partner the chance to precise their very own needs and desires related to this goal – what neighborhood are we living in? They can check out how they could feel on this future – excited, drained, loved? They have the prospect to anticipate potential challenges and overcome these possibilities together – what happens if one partner who will not be a cook burns dinner?

Just as shared imagination can increase feelings of connection, it also has the potential to combat loneliness and separation. Loneliness is a widespread problem, associated with several health and well-being problemsWe hope that future research will explore harness the social advantages of shared imagination to deal with feelings of loneliness.

Our studies focused on the shared imagination that develops between two people imagining their future together. But people’s ideas concerning the future may be much broader, encompass a broader social collective just like the clan, the town, and even land. In what ways might co-imagination shape such collectively oriented visions of the long run? Could co-imagination influence collective beliefs or future visions of a broader social group?

Shaping the long run together through shared imagination

So, in your next romantic date, must you ask someone to assume a future together? Well, we're not entirely sure. The evidence now we have shows that shared imagination can actually increase feelings of closeness between individuals who were previously strangers, and might result in a shared understanding of what the long run might appear to be.

But far more must be done to grasp how co-imagination shapes relationships. By studying more people in several relationship types, over longer periods of time, and in additional natural, on a regular basis settings, we are able to higher understand effectively harness the social effects of co-imagination in relationships.

You cannot imagine your potential futures alone. Rather, the long run and its possibilities are something you actively create along with others. This brings you closer to them in the current and more connected to them. Imagining a shared future together, it seems, may be a very important first step towards making it a reality.