{"id":3983,"date":"2025-05-07T19:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3983"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:40:30","slug":"imagining-interactions-in-advance-can-reduce-loneliness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/imagining-interactions-in-advance-can-reduce-loneliness\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagining Interactions in Advance Can Reduce Loneliness"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic weakened social bonds between colleagues and increased the number of people feeling lonely.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Kris Byron<\/a> of Georgia State University said that work-related imagined interactions are a promising way to help workers prepare for, and respond to, changing situations at work. Imaging interactions in advance can also be a surprising antidote for loneliness.<\/p>\n

Byron and research colleague Beth Schinoff<\/a> of the University of Delaware published an article on this topic in Academy of Management Review<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say there\u2019s an epidemic of loneliness, and that does also translate to work environments, especially now that so many of us are working from home,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople have fewer work friends than they used to in the past, and so this idea of using imagined interactions to inspire conversations and reduce loneliness at work is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byron said that it\u2019s possible that people might imagine interactions to reduce their feelings of loneliness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is that, in the psychology literature, there\u2019s research showing that imagining interactions actually does reduce loneliness, so it isn\u2019t just in our head,\u201d Byron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese imagined interactions really do make a make a difference, either for our preparation for real conversations or for making us feel more connected to our workplaces and the people inside of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be easy to discount the role of imagination because it\u2019s all in one\u2019s mind, but imagination plays an important role in our lives because, for example, imagining potential workplace interactions in advance helps people feel better about navigating actual conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher The COVID-19 pandemic weakened social bonds between colleagues and increased the number of people feeling lonely. Academy of Management Scholar Kris Byron of Georgia State University said that work-related imagined interactions are a promising way to help workers prepare for, and respond to, changing situations at work. 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Academy of Management Scholar Kris Byron of Georgia State University said that work-related imagined interactions are a promising way to help workers prepare for, and respond to, changing situations at work. 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