Abstract
Loneliness is thought to serve as an adaptive signal indicating the need to repair or replace salutary social connections. Accordingly, loneliness may influence preferences for interpersonal distance. If loneliness simply motivates a desire to socially reconnect, then loneliness may be associated with a preference for smaller interpersonal distances. According to the evolutionary model of loneliness, however, loneliness also signals an inadequacy of mutual aid and protection, augmenting self-preservation motives. If loneliness both increases the motivation to reconnect and increases the motivation for self-protection, then the resulting approach-avoidance conflict should produce a preference for larger interpersonal distance, at least within intimate (i.e., proximal) space. Here, we report two survey-based studies of participants’ preferences for interpersonal distance to distinguish between these competing hypotheses. In Study 1 (N = 175), loneliness predicted preferences for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space net gender, objective social isolation, anxiety, depressive symptomatology, and marital status. In Study 2 (N = 405), we replicated these results, and mediation analyses indicated that measures of social closeness could not adequately explain our findings. These studies provide compelling evidence that loneliness predicts preferences for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space, consistent with predictions from the evolutionary model of loneliness.
Highlights
Loneliness, defined as a discrepancy between one’s desired and achieved levels of social connectedness [1], has been found to impact behavioral processes related to attention, executive function, and social cognition
Stepwise selection indicated that the optimal model for predicting interpersonal distance preferences included the following predictors, added in this order: (1) personal space dimension, (2) loneliness, (3) a lonelinessÃpersonal space dimension interaction, and (4) gender
If loneliness simultaneously augments a self-protective hypervigilance for social threats in the service of short-term self-preservation, the resulting approach-avoidance conflict should produce a preference for a larger interpersonal distance within intimate space, based upon the proximity gradients of approach-avoidance conflicts [13,14,15]
Summary
Loneliness, defined as a discrepancy between one’s desired and achieved levels of social connectedness [1], has been found to impact behavioral processes related to attention, executive function, and social cognition (for review, see [2]). 0–45 cm), which corresponds to the distance closely surrounding a person’s body, wherein one feels comfortable interacting with intimate others; 2) Personal circle (18–47 in.; 45–120 cm), in which “subjects of personal interest and involvement can be discussed” [7]; 3) Social circle (47–142 in.; 120–360 cm), a zone used for impersonal business, interactions with colleagues, and casual social gatherings [7]; and 4) Public circle (> 142 in.; > 360 cm; Hall, 1963) These regions are similar both for physical and mental representations of the space surrounding one’s body [4,8,9,10]
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