A Novel Social Situation and Loneliness

Abstract

Although social isolation has been shown to have a negative long-term influence on feelings of loneliness, there has been no systematic investigation of situational influences on loneliness. The purpose of this study was to compare scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the loneliness which people feel prior to performing a novel task, with those on the same scale after engaging in the task. 31 college freshmen were divided into those working alone (n = 14) and those working in a group (n = 17). Those who performed the novel task within a group felt significantly less lonely after than prior to performing the task and reported less loneliness than the students who performed the same task in isolation. An important implication of this study is that group interaction may directly and immediately reduce the amount of loneliness individuals feel.