Are You Seen as a Friendly Neighbor?
It’s not too late to win over your neighbors. Research shows we unconsciously use our lights and décor to communicate friendliness.
The experiment went like this:
People who did not know the residents or homes in a certain neighborhood had to name which people in the neighborhood were friendly simply by looking at the outside of their houses. The raters then had to report on which aspects of the home exteriors drove their decisions.
The homes chosen for the experiment had been preselected for either having or not having holiday decorations, and also by how the homeowners self-rated their degree of social contact with neighbors.
Participants consistently interpreted holiday decorations as a clue that the homeowners were friendly. Even when there were no holiday decorations, participants were still able to accurately distinguish between friendly and not-friendly residents. The sociable neighbors were reported to have houses that were more “open” and “lived in.”
Researchers also examined the idea that residents who decorate for Christmas but don’t have many friends on the block may be using the décor to signal their openness. When holiday decorations were present, raters attributed higher levels of friendliness even to less-friendly residents.
So if you’re new to the neighborhood or looking to make friends, start by lighting up your home for the holidays!
