Feelings Of Social Connection Research Articles

When social inclusion is not enough: Implicit expectations of extreme inclusion in borderline personality disorder.

Increasing evidence suggests that individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) might feel rejected even when socially included by others. A psychological mechanism accounting for this response bias could be that objective social inclusion violates BPD patients' underlying implicit needs of "extreme" inclusion. Thus, this study investigated whether, during interpersonal exchanges, BPD patients report more rejection-related negative emotions and less feelings of social connection than controls unless they are faced with conditions of extreme social inclusion. Sixty-one BPD patients and 61 healthy controls completed a modified Cyberball paradigm. They were randomly assigned to a condition of ostracism, social inclusion, or overinclusion (a proxy for extreme social inclusion). They then rated their emotional states and feelings of social connection immediately and 20 min after the game. BPD patients reported greater levels of negative emotions than controls in the ostracism and the inclusion conditions, but not when overincluded. Furthermore, only for BPD participants was overinclusion associated with experiencing less negative emotions than the ostracism condition. However, BPD patients reported lower feelings of social connection than controls in any experimental situation. Thus, in BPD, a laboratory condition of "overinclusion" is associated with a reduction of negative emotions to levels comparable to those of control participants, but not with similar degrees of social connection. These results suggest that for BPD patients, even "including contexts" activate feelings of rejection. Their implicit expectations of idealized interpersonal inclusion may nullify the opportunity of experiencing "real" social connection and explain their distorted subjective experiences of rejection.

Inked: historic African-American beach site as collective memory and group ‘Third Place’ sociability on Martha’s Vineyard

Using data gained from ethnographic research and interviews, this article examines ‘third place’ sociability in the social interactions of the Polar Bears of Martha’s Vineyard, a group of predominantly but not exclusively middle-aged and senior African-American men and women who swim, exercise and socialise together each morning at ‘the Inkwell’ beach. Using Georg Simmel’s concept of sociability and Ray Oldenburg’s third-place theoretical framework, this study explores the key role of the Monday communal breakfast and the function of conversation in establishing bonds between individuals. It further investigates the promotion of strong feelings of social connectedness, belonging, social support, social capital gains and community among its group members. The ongoing sociability and informal rules of the Polar Bears of Martha’s Vineyard has enabled it to become a model group demonstration of third-place community building. The importance of race, class and place is socio-historically investigated within the broader social context of the popular racialised section of the beach, ‘the Inkwell’, of African-American community life, and within the sub-community milieu of group social interaction.

Sync or sink? Interpersonal synchrony impacts self-esteem.

Synchronized behavior has significant social influence both in terms of everyday activities (e.g., walking and talking) as well as via more historical contexts (e.g., cultural rituals). Grounded in the science of coordination dynamics, previous research has revealed that interpersonal synchrony has numerous affiliative and pro-social consequences, such as enhanced rapport, cooperation, and social-cognitive functioning. The current study sought to explore the impact of intentional synchrony versus asynchrony on an individual’s self-esteem and their feelings of social connection with a partner. The results revealed that individuals felt better about themselves following a period of synchronous compared to asynchronous movement, while they also perceived a greater self-other overlap with their partner. These findings not only extend previous research on social connections following interpersonal synchrony, but also provide the first demonstration of an influence on self-evaluations. Overall, it appears that moving in time with others may result in us feeling better about ourselves compared to moving to our own rhythm.

Evaluating social connectedness online: the design and development of the Social Perceptions in Learning Contexts Instrument

Learners’ feelings of social connectedness may be a key factor in predicting online course success. However, students attempting to perceive and process the social context in online courses often find themselves engaging in unfamiliar, technology-mediated communication channels. While there have been several empirically based strategies published for creating and maintaining social connectedness online, presently there are no validated instruments available to evaluate the success or failure of the pedagogical methods employed. This article reports on the development and initial technical validation of the Social Perceptions in Learning Contexts Instrument (SPLCI), a research tool for measuring students’ perception of social connectedness with participants in online courses. Findings demonstrated strong validity and reliability evidence that collectively supports continued development of the SPLCI.

The past makes the present meaningful: Nostalgia as an existential resource.

The present research tested the proposition that nostalgia serves an existential function by bolstering a sense of meaning in life. Study 1 found that nostalgia was positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that nostalgia increases a sense of meaning in life. In both studies, the link between nostalgia and increased meaning in life was mediated by feelings of social connectedness. Study 3 evidenced that threatened meaning increases nostalgia. Study 4 illustrated that nostalgia, in turn, reduces defensiveness following a meaning threat. Finally, Studies 5 and 6 showed that nostalgia disrupts the link between meaning deficits and compromised psychological well-being. Collectively, these findings indicate that the provision of existential meaning is a pivotal function of nostalgia.

As We Said, Loneliness (Not Living Alone) Explains Individual Differences in Sleep Quality: Reply.

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the letter to the editor in regard to the role of living alone in explaining differences in sleep quality. The authors of the letter correctly pointed out that although we controlled for marital status in our original study (Hawkley, Preacher, & Cacioppo, 2010), we did not control for living alone in our analyses of loneliness and daytime dysfunction. The authors drew to our attention the prior work of Gu, Sautter, Pipkin, and Zeng (2010), who found that living alone was associated with better sleep quality independent of marital status. We therefore reexamined our data and found that living alone was not significantly associated with loneliness (r = .13, p = .07) or daytime dysfunction (r = .08, p = .24; data not reported in original study). Living alone therefore cannot explain the effect of loneliness on daytime dysfunction in our sample. It is important to note that we did not argue that the threat of sleeping alone was responsible for differences in sleep quality. In evolutionary history, humans would have relied on the objective presence of others to minimize the danger inherent in sleeping alone in a hostile environment. In contemporary time, the presence of another may not be necessary to reduce fear and anxiety, but our evolutionary history is still with us in terms of the feelings of safety and security that come with the feeling of social connectedness. Thus, we argued that the perception of connectedness (and conversely, perceived isolation) is as important if not more important than the presence of another (i.e., living and/or sleeping with another) in predicting sleep quality. Indeed, our analyses showed that even those who are married are at risk for poor sleep if they feel isolated. The authors of the letter describe analyses in which they pitted living alone and loneliness against each other in explaining sleep quality. Consistent with our data, living alone was not associated with sleep quality, but loneliness was. The authors distinguished between social and emotional loneliness and found that only emotional and not social loneliness was associated with poor sleep. The UCLA Loneliness Scale that we used does not make this distinction, but it includes some items that are equivalent to the social and emotional loneliness items of the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness scale used by these researchers. Moreover, because social and emotional loneliness are typically highly correlated, we maintain that their and our results are consistent with each other. Feelings of loneliness, but not living alone, help to explain individual differences in sleep quality. These findings highlight one of the take-home points of our loneliness research more generally. It is the perception of isolation and not isolation per se that drives the prospective effects we've observed to date, including increases in blood pressure, increases in depressive symptoms, greater increases in morning cortisol, and alterations in gene transcription (Adam et al., 2006; Cacioppo et al., 2010; Cole et al., 2007; Hawkley et al., 2010). Prospective effects on sleep quality and daytime dysfunction are consistent with this patterning of effects.

International Women's Day: art project for young women

Abstract The primary aim of the project was to provide the opportunity for a marginalised group of young women to participate in International Women's Day with other women and members of the community and to have the opportunity to express themselves and aspects of their lives in art work on ceramic platters. The target group were ‘homeless, transient and at risk young women from 18 to 25 years of age, including Koori women’, engaged mainly through local homeless youth agencies in the Port Phillip area in Victoria. It was thought that many of this target group had been left out of formal support service provision. The project was evidently a success, both in terms of its modest aims and, most importantly, as evaluated by the participants themselves. Those interviewed expressed greater feelings of social connectedness - particularly with other women, raised self esteem and optimism and a new found enjoyment in the creative process.

International Women's Day: Art project for young women

The primary aim of the project was to provide the opportunity for a marginalised group of young women to participate in International Women's Day with other women and members of the community and to have the opportunity to express themselves and aspects of their lives in art work on ceramic platters. The target group were ‘homeless, transient and at risk young women from 18 to 25 years of age, including Koori women’, engaged mainly through local homeless youth agencies in the Port Phillip area in Victoria. It was thought that many of this target group had been left out of formal support service provision. The project was evidently a success, both in terms of its modest aims and, most importantly, as evaluated by the participants themselves. Those interviewed expressed greater feelings of social connectedness - particularly with other women, raised self esteem and optimism and a new found enjoyment in the creative process.