It’s a Small World After All: The Psychology of Six Degrees

The Origins of the Idea

The concept was first tested in the 1960s by psychologist Stanley Milgram. He wanted to explore how interconnected people really were.

Milgram asked participants to help send a letter to a target person who lived in another U.S. state. The catch? They only had the person’s name—no address. To solve this, they had to forward the letter to someone they personally knew who might be “closer” to the target. That person would then do the same, and so on.

Surprisingly, it took, on average, about six steps for the letter to reach its destination. And so, the idea of six degrees of separation was born.

Six Degrees of Separation: How Connected Are We Really?

Ever thought about how small the Central Coast feels sometimes? You bump into someone at the shops, and it turns out they know your neighbour, your cousin, or that friend from work. Suddenly the world feels tiny—and you realise we’re all linked in some way. You’re not alone in that thought.

This idea is captured in the famous concept of “Six Degrees of Separation”—the belief that any two people in the world are connected through six or fewer social connections. In other words, your friend’s cousin’s colleague’s neighbour might just link you to anyone on the planet!

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