What Is the Effect of a Stranger?

There's a theory that we simulate another person's experience in order to understand their experience. But this effect didn't happen at all when it was a stranger. We found by varying who it was, that it could be both. And if you think about it for just a second, this makes perfect sense. One of the reasons that we enjoy being around our friends is because we don't have to work very hard to predict what they're feeling and thinking. This is really reducing our relationships. It's not empathy, it's identification. I identify with you. If you take it just a couple of half steps further, i am you, you are me. We are a becoming the same