Beckman researchers Michelle Rodrigues and Si On Yoon published their study “What are friends for? The impact of friendship on communicative efficiency and cortisol response during collaborative problem solving among younger and older women,” in the Journal of Women and Aging in May 2021.
Their research looked to answer the question: Across women’s lifespans, how are the tendencies to “tend and befriend” as well as socially select reflected in their communication?
After observing participants of varying age groups navigate a series of “conversational challenges” with both friends and strangers, they found, among other things, that cortisol, or stress hormone, levels were reduced when friends communicated to accomplish a task.
You can read more here.
Wait, does this mean that teachers should have been letting us choose our friends for group projects all along??
Top image from Beckman Institute Facebook page.