The Influence of Loneliness on the Need to Belong:
Activation of Loneliness Stressing the Need to Belong
Humans have a primary desire for forming social bonds with other human beings. Humans form relationships with others without examining the positive and negative outcomes at their first encounter. The need to belong is embedded instinctually within humans. For example, bonds are created in early stages of a human's life, starting at early- childhood, when a child isn't capable of understanding the cost to a relationship he/she is creating (Atwood, 1975). This sense of belonging is then reinforced in a human’s later childhood. Establishing a need to belong is created with a parent (or caregiver) who they are constantly dependant on. Dependence
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Loneliness can also be an outcome from a number of different factors. Loneliness is defined in an by Inagaki et al. (2016) when a social connection is not being met by another. Brown and Sacco (2017) argue that greater belonging needs lead to searching for others most likely to satisfy that need of social connection. Atwood (1975) states, “Alienation from others and social disconnectedness creates psychological difficulties such as loneliness” (p. 101). According to DeWall, Deckman, Pond and Bonser (2011), because belongingness is a key component of human functioning, loneliness and social exclusion should influence the desire to belong. To the extent that an individual is lonely then there is a greater need for belonging. The purpose of the current work is to prove that loneliness does influence the desire to …show more content…
Situational loneliness refers to unpleasant experiences that someone can encounter such as accidents or disasters (Tiwari, 2013). Developmental loneliness relating to the human instinct of desire to be alike with someone or a group (Tiwari, 2013). Internal loneliness regards personality factors such as low self- esteem and self worth (Tiwari, 2013). All three levels will be encompassing the current work’s definition of loneliness and applying it to the need for belonging. Loneliness is an emotion that every human encounters in their lifetime. Loneliness defined in an by Inagaki et al. (2016) is when a social connection is not being met by another. Brown and Sacco (2017) argue that greater belonging needs lead to searching for others most likely to satisfy that need of social connection.
Russell et al. (1978) created a questionnaire to measure loneliness based on the subjective feelings of loneliness and social isolation such as: social connection, environment, intimacy, connection, and isolation. This measure was factors of all negatively worded items (e.g., “I feel completely alone”). People who score high on this questionnaire are said to have high depression and social isolation issues, and low scores are said to be socially
I-Chieh Chen (2015) in The study The Scale for the Loneliness of College Students in Taiwan (http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jedp/article/download/46795/25238) stated that Loneliness was initially studied by Sullivan (1953) (A Peplau, D Perlman, LA Peplau… - Loneliness: A …, 1982 - peplaulab.ucla.edu) who proposed that loneliness was an unpleasant and intense experience related to unsatisfied requirements for intimacy (http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jedp/article/download/46795/25238). Sullivan’s research was all but neglected in his time. This neglect lasted until 1973, when Weiss, an American scholar who was an adherent of Bowlby’s attachment theory, published an article entitled “Loneliness: the experience of emotional and social isolation” (RS Weiss - 1973 - psycnet.apa.org).
In a day and age of a social media dominance, we have never been as densely connected and networked as we ever have. Through studies and researchers, it has been shown that we never have been as lonelier, or even narcissistic. As a result all this loneliness has not only made us mentally ill, but physically ill as well. Published in The Atlantic on April 2, 2012, Stephen Marche addresses this argument in his article entitled “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely”.
In the absence of friends and companions, people begin to ache from loneliness. Loneliness is an unavoidable, fact
At any age, humans fear abandonment, rejection, or the loss of an important connection. Individuals raised without a supportive guardian experience the pain of abandonment and typically develop trust issues. Babies and young children experience this fear most of all, by creating strong attachments to their mothers and crying in the absence of her presence. Seen commonly in the working world and among teenagers, people fear the perception of not being wanted. Those who feel that way tend to conform to their peers in order to ensure that they will “belong.”
Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being isolated or abandoned. Being lonely is almost always directly connected to relations between people, or the lack there of. Mother Teresa once said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” In John Steinbecks classic novel, Of Mice And Men, the three characters, Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy struggle with loneliness in different forms because of characteristics that they can’t control. All three characters deal with their loneliness by searching for companionship with others on the ranch and this works out differently for each of them.
	Loneliness is what people complain about when being without another person to socialize with. One may feel lonely when: you’re alone and you don’t you have a choice not to be, you are facing challenges in your life with school, a new town, job, or other changes, you feel there’s no one in your life with whom you can share your feelings with, you feel unacceptable, unlovable, and not worthwhile (Loneliness 1).
1.: ¨The association of loneliness with lower quality of life, reduced independence with activities of living and increased cardiovascular disease emphasizes the importance of addressing the needs of people for companionship and a sense of belonging¨ (While 332). 2. : Loneliness can create a lower quality of life, with less exercise and more risks of illnesses. Companions give company and reduce risks of mental illnesses, such as depression, which can be developed from feeling alone.
It asserts that the methods we use to relate to others, manage our needs, express our demands, and shape our expectations for the world are rooted in our relationships with our early caregivers. Through these interactions we learn to balance our feelings and need states with others and to establish our varying degrees of independence, dependence, power, and control. Attachment also impacts self-esteem through the experience of conflict with
Several studies also asserted that loneliness is correlated with aging itself (Tijhuis et al, 1999; Victor et al, 2000) and that there was a gradual increase in loneliness up to the age of 90 (Holmen, 1992). This increasing trend can be attributed to interactions with other factors due to additive nature of risk factors for loneliness and social isolation (Victor et al, 2000).
Loneliness is a terrifying feeling that never escapes our lives. When I was younger, my largest fear in life was that I would make no friends and would be lonely. As I grew older, the fear shifted to dying alone. Now that I take steps back to look at this I realized everything I have missed, everything I have misunderstood. I am finally strong enough to understand that loneliness is inescapable, it lives with you all through your life. Life is a lonely place, where even if you are lucky enough to have people around you, all you have to look forward to is losing them either through going separate ways or death.
There has been a considerable amount of inquiry which has associated loneliness to depression, low self-esteem, and physical illness (Hawley & Cacioppo, 2007; Sorkin, Rook, & Lu, 2002). Loneliness can also be detrimental to health as well as overall well-being later in life due to recent evidence implying that it accelerates physiological deterioration and advancement of chronic diseases in the elderly (Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2007).
Loneliness is a feeling of emptiness due to not having any friends or company around.
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachment as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497-529. DeWall, C. N., Baumeister, R. F. (2006). Alone but feeling no pain: Effects of social exclusion on physical pain tolerance and pain threshold, affective forecasting, and interpersonal empathy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(1), 1-15.
I feel uncomfortable in my own world. Being alone unnerves me. I always have felt the need to share my world, my mind and my feelings with somebody. My feelings about myself seem less important than what others think of me. I'm scared of being lonely. And so are we all. We all seem to be on a continuous search for someone who will really love and understand us. Someone to provide us with a purpose for life. And yet I think we are all essentially alone. We are alone in our thoughts an emotions.