Sortand traveling, for some, means Discover new destinationsothers can’t wait to return to the places of all time. Yes, because our way of traveling tells a lot about us, more than we can imagine. Always one of the deepest experiences of the human being, the journey, moreover, is not just a physical movement. It is also, and above all, an inner movement, aoccasion of transformation and growth. A way -the most pleasant -to reflect on oneself and on their place in the world. We talk about it with the Professor Giuseppe PantaleoFull of Social Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology of the Vita-Salute University of San Raffaele, where he is also director of Unisr-Social.lab.
What is the need for holidays from? The “adaptation level” theory
Behind the need for escape there is that of new stimuli. Indispensable to restore psychological well -being. A well explains one Old theory, called the “adaptation level”formulated byo American psychologist Harry Helson. Within certain limits, we get used to – progressively – to stimulation levels other than those to which we are subject at a given moment, adapting to us. It is the same principle that the water temperature in a bathtub, initially, appears to us “hot” or “cold” but, soon, it will seem adequate.
The value of boredom
At that point, the feeling of pleasant warmth that we have felt by immersing us, will vanish. As soon as we adapt, we tend not to perceive some stimuli anymore, although they are still potentially present. So, let’s start slowly to “Borders us”. Only a new variation in the intensity of the stimulation, if not too far from the level of adaptation of the moment, will be able to make the situation pleasant and interesting again. To return to the example, a little fresh water, perhaps through a side jet, it will awaken the senses again, tickling our interest.
Holidays, a remedy for monotony
So it works in everyday life. Our activities tend to repeat themselves unchanged, our relationships to follow usual trajectories. And every day it may seem similar to the previous one. The holidays then become an important variation on the theme, a remedy for monotony, a way to awaken our enthusiasm, through stimuli no longer muffled by the routine. In short, a way not only to “detach and rest”, but also to return to “feel” and still perceive what is around us, fully reactivating the adaptation process, but at a new level of stimulation, Helson would say.
The paradox of the end of the holidays
That’s why, curiously, the same process is activated upon returning. After weeks of stop, it is the work that breaks, almost paradoxically, the holiday. We adapted to the break, which begins to “bore”. And we return to the office with another energy, even with pleasure. After all, every year, we like to wear the first autumn sweater. Not because it is better than a light dress, but because it is new compared to the adaptation of the previous months.
How does social psychology explain the propensity to travel with the taste of exploring or, rather, within the borders of a comfort zone?
Particular attention must be paid to “opening” and “closing” processes mental stimulated by‘social anxiety that is, from the fear of relating to others. Perceive people as a threat, both as individuals and members of a group, tends to strongly condition our choices, even travel ones.
When the closing attitude prevails, we will tend to choose already known, family members, repeating consolidated experiences. In these cases, the routine will not be something to avoid, but rather the safe harbor from which to never get too far. On the contrary, when we feel reassured, and respectfully strong in interpersonal relationships, we will be more willing to explain the sails towards unknown seas, eager to open ourselves to “multiple perspectives” (as he loved to call it my mentor, the American psychologist Robert A. Wicklund) and to explore a world with which we feel in balance and of which, in all respects, we are part of the variety of forms, opinions that surround us.
Anxiety during the holidays
It is also good to emphasize that state of social anxiety pronounced – and unduly prolonged – can easily fall within the domain of clinical psychology, and therefore request the attention of a specialist. However, when social anxiety does not reach the levels of guard, it is more easily placed in the domain of social psychology. For this reason, the same person could find himself, in a particular moment of his life, to want to travel within the borders of his comfort zone or, rather, to prefer a journey marked by discovery.
It is a process similar to what we observe in children, when they begin to discover the world around them. They move away from the mother, or from the main care figure, but occasionally look in her direction. They detach themselves, then they return to his arms, and, reassured, they resume advanced, step by step, expanding the horizon. After all, even as adults, we continually move between two thrusts: the search for security and the pleasure of the new, the discovery of a multiplicity of perspectives and points of view. And it is precisely this dynamic that determines the way we relate to the trip.
Social anxiety: which connotations does the phenomenon take in the era of social networks?
Correlated to social anxiety is the so -called Fomo, acronym for fear of missing outthat is, the fear of being cut out, the fear – real – to lose something important.
Just stay a few hours without mobile phone, or realize that you are not included in a chat or in a social group, to start feeling out of place. We are not talking about being blocked or banned, but of a simple exclusion, sufficient to trigger the doubt, if not the belief, that others are experiencing significant experiences, without us.
The solution is, once again, to come out, to live reality. To discover a truth of all time, valid also in our time: what we fear, when we face it, is less ugly than it may seem. Especially if our imagination, deceived by nature, is further falsified by the filter of a screen.
How does travel influences relational dynamics?
The journey, on the one hand, can encourage intimacy, thanks to the lightness of the summer period, free from the burden of work and study of the winter months, a time in which to devote itself fully to authentic relationships. Many of us, moreover, if they think of the most beautiful moments lived with their parents, or with their children, in the family album they certainly include travel memories. Life frames in which to stop time and stay forever, unforgettable. On the other hand, traveling “puts us bare” and therefore makes compatibility emerge but also the differences between people, especially in restricted contexts, where you cannot hide. Perhaps someone, reading, will be rethinking some time ago, perhaps on that trip with friends on a sailing boat and those tensions, unexpected, in the management of the Cambusa. In these situations, traveling can strengthen ties or, on the contrary, favor conflicts.
How does the perception of others and themselves change in different cultural contexts?
Whenever we are in a new context, the way we perceive ourselves also changes. For example, among the many possibilities, just choose Asia as a travel destination because you immediately realize, perhaps for the first time, what it really means to be western. Only by comparing ourselves with another culture (or with other forms of spirituality and thought), we realize what our defines ours. By contrast, we become more aware of our habits, our rhythms and a series of rules that are usually invisible for us and that we take for granted. I like to use the fish metaphor which, probably, are not aware of the water in which they flick and move. As long as we are immersed in our element, we do not perceive it. The journey recreates this situation: it allows us to see ourselves in new contexts, restoring a more clear image than us.
Does the journey favored the reduction of cultural prejudices or strengthens, however, pre -existing stereotypes and prejudices?
To respond, the US social psychologist Gordon Allport comes to aid, considered the progenitor of research on prejudice. Its starting consideration, now the subject of numerous variations on the topic, is known as “contact hypothesis” and dates back to the mid -1950s. In summary, it states that the prejudice towards another social group can reduce when you have direct positive and firsthand contact with the members who make it up. Therefore, the experience of the journey can reduce prejudices, but only if lived in positive terms, such as to dispel myths and open new roads and new horizons. Otherwise, the concrete risk is that strengthens them.
Can traveling contribute to inner change?
Traveling exposes us to new perspectives. Different points of view, able to radically change our world view.
On this issue, together with one of my teachers, which I have already mentioned, Robert A. Wicklund, we have developed the theory of multiple perspectives. Our studies, which began in the 90s, started a series of scientific publications, of which the last – in the form of a review – dates back to 2024
Supported by the comparison with scientific data, we have seen that it is not enough to be exposed to a perspective different from one’s own to change, indeed sometimes it can be even counterproductive. Because the change, in the sense of growth, really happens, this perspective must be internalized, made of us, made part of us, alongside the others.
An active experience
And so also the journey should be experienced as an active experience. A series of photos taken by a bus, during a quick tour, will leave us, at most, a collection of images destined to fade over time. Just as the all-inclusive resort, which isolates us from the context, will simply transport our habits to kilometers away. Only by sharing gestures, sounds, ideas, foods and rites, can the journey expand our horizons and enrich us with a psychological reality made of multiple perspectives, that is, of views that will find themselves coexisting the one next to the others.
Holiday theory
This is precisely the heart of theory: two perspectives that meet do not merge together in a third, which summarizes it in a “middle ground”, as suggested by a certain pedagogy now dated. On the contrary, our mutual behavioral, emotional and cognitive repertoires are expanded, even if in contradiction with each other. Here, then, that the various inner perspectives will remain separate and distinct from each other, but, alongside, they will expand the cognitive, emotional and behavioral repertoire of the people who have experienced it.
Let’s think about linguistic learning: those who learn English does not stop talking Italian, nor blends the two languages in a hybrid. Both preserves them, with a language that will become richer. In the same way, different points of view do not merge: they are joined, creating a colorful range of possibilities.
As in a kaleidoscope, in the journey, our identity is broken into the many it encounters, to recompose each time in different forms: “One, none, one hundred thousand” reflections of Pirandellian memory. To borrow a verse of the American poet Walt Whitman: “Multitudes contains”. The journey, if lived fully, can push us beyond the boundaries of our existence and make us cross the infinite we can be.
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