Does a pandemic context attenuate people's negative perception and meta-perception of solitude?

Dongning Ren*, Olga Stavrova

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
256 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Solitude-the state of being alone without social interactions-is a common experience in everyday life. Despite that spending time alone can be enjoyable and functional, solitude is often stigmatised: People who engage in solitary activities are perceived negatively (negative perceptions of solitude) and anticipate a negative judgement from others (negative meta-perceptions of solitude). Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop, we examined whether a pandemic context, in which solitary behaviours were easily attributable to external reasons, would reduce people's negative perceptions and meta-perceptions of solitude. Across three preregistered experiments (total N = 767) conducted during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that the presence (vs. absence) of a pandemic context attenuated both the negative meta-perceptions and the negative perceptions of solitude. Yet, people believed that the pandemic context produced a stronger shift away from the stigmatisation of solitude than it actually did. These findings revealed the limits of contextual cues in mitigating the negative perceptions of being alone-even when these cues were explicit and readily available. The current research sheds light on the potential challenges of destigmatising solitude.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)134-142
JournalInternational Journal of Psychology
Volume58
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Keywords

  • Social perception
  • Meta-perception
  • Solitude
  • Stigma
  • SINGLES

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