Poor social performance of lonely people

Lacking a skill or adopting a role

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6205029
AutoresJohn Vitkus (Barnard College), Leonard M Horowitz
Año1987
Volumen52
Número6
Páginas1266-1273
Fecha de publicación1987-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
EditorialAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037//0022-3514.52.6.1266
PMID3598865
OpenAlexW2038670371
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas28
Referencias citadas3

A substantial literature has shown that lonely people differ from nonlonely people on a variety of measures of social performance. These differences have usually been conceptualized as a social skills deficit, which implies that lonely people lack the ability to perform appropriate and effective social behavior. Rather than a lack of this ability, the authors hypothesize that the adoption of passive interpersonal roles predisposes lonely people to exhibit inadequate performance. In order to test this hypothesis, lonely and nonlonely subjects were assigned to one of two roles: They either listened (Condition Li) to an interaction partner describe a personal problem or they themselves described a personal problem (Condition Pr) to their partner. The subjects' interpersonal role produced a substantial effect on their social behavior. Subjects who listened to their partner describe a problem generated more solutions to a set of hypothetical situations, attended to their partners more adequately, and conversed longer than did subjects who described a personal problem. In contrast, lonely subjects did not differ from nonlonely subjects in their social performance within each particular role. Lonely and nonlonely subjects did differ, however, in their subjective evaluations of themselves and of their performance. These results illustrate the need for research to address both the interpersonal and the intrapersonal bases of social performance.

Developmental psychology · Interpersonal communication · Interpersonal relationship · Intrapersonal communication · Set (abstract data type · Social skills · Test (biology · Variety (cybernetics · Cultural Differences and Values · Health and Well-being Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology