The social world of the socially anhedonic: Exploring the daily ecology of asociality

Abstract

The need to belong is fundamental to human motivation. The significance of needs for relatedness and intimacy can be highlighted by examining aberrations in these needs. Social anhedonia, a component of the schizophrenia spectrum, represents a lack of reward from social interaction. The present research examined the everyday social worlds of the socially anhedonic. A week-long experience-sampling study found that people high in social anhedonia were more likely to be alone. When alone, they were likely to prefer solitude and to be alone by choice, not because they felt excluded. When with other people, they were likely to be in bigger, less intimate groups and to feel asocial. Socially anhedonic people felt more positive affect and less negative affect when alone, indicating a genuine preference for solitude. Because social anhedonia is a liability for psychopathology, it is the exception to the need to belong that proves the rule.