L14 - The Need to Belong

Question 1

What is moderation?

Answer 1

when the strength and direction of the relationship between an independent and dependent variable depends on a third variable
- the third variable is called a moderator
- it shows you for whom, when, or under what circumstances a relationship exists

language used to describe moderation:
- “the relationship between X and Y is moderated by”
- “the relationship between X and Y depends on…”
- “this effect is true for these people, but not these people…”

Question 2

What is mediation?

Answer 2

explains the mechanism that underlies a relationship between an independent and dependent variable via the inclusion of a third variable
- the third variable is called a mediator

language ued to describe mediatino:
- “the relationship between the independent and dependent variable is mediated by…”
- “the independent variable influences the mediator which influences the dependent variable”
- “the independent variable influences the dependent variable through the mediator”

Question 3

How is the fundamental need to belong defined?

Answer 3

humans have a “pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, significant interpersonal relationships”

“a great deal of human behaviour and thought is caused by this fundamental interpersonal motive”

Question 4

What is needed in order to satisfy our fundamental need to belong?

Answer 4

1. frequent pleasant interactions
2. long-lasting caring relationships

Question 5

If neeing to belong is a fundamental need, then…

Answer 5

1. need satisfaction/not met should influence emotion
2. unmet need should motivate behaviour to satisfy it
3. satiation and substitution
4. chronic need satisfaction/frustration should be related to health outcomes
5. universal

Question 6

How does the need to belong affect emotions?

Answer 6

creating new social bonds is strongly associated with positive feelings
- e.g., falling in love
- life satisfaction strongly correlated with ahving some close relationships

the loss of social bonds is strongly associated with negative feelings
- highly upsetting when separation/loss happens
- reluctance to end bad relationships

Question 7

What is the social reconnection hypothesis?

Answer 7

social rejection is one indicator of an unmet need to belong
- associated with negative feelings

social reconnection hypothesis: feeling rejected motivates us to seek out new bonds and strengthen existing ones
- thus, negative feelings associated with rejection are adaptive

Question 8

What is the evidence for social reconnection hypothesis?

(Maner et al.’s study 2007)

Does rejection lead to a desire for social contact?

Answer 8

Method:
- “Future alone” paradigm”
– Ps complete personality test and receive fake feedback
– future alone vs. future belonging vs. future misfortune (control)

“To what extent would you prefer doing the next task with a few other people?”

Results:
- “Rejected” Ps showed strongest desire to work with others

“Rejected” (vs. accepted) Ps also showed:
- greater interest to meet and connect with new friends
- greater desire to join student group to connect with others
- rate others as more attractive and sociable
– i.e, perceive attributes in others that make them seem more approachable and are consistent with their own needs

Question 9

What else is rejection associated with?

Answer 9

rejection is also associated with withdrawal and even aggression sometimes
- majority of school shooters in the US had experienced chronic rejection

in the lab, rejected people:
- evaluated another person more negatively
- delivered longer and louder blasts of aversive noise to the rejector
- gave rejector hot sauce knowing that they hate spicy food

Question 10

Describe DeWall et al.’s study on intensity of rejection as a moderator (2010).

does intensity of rejection moderate rejection-agression link?

Answer 10

Method:
- manipulated intensity of rejection using Cyberball paradigm
– excluded by all 3 players, excluded by 2, excluded by 1, included by all
- prepared food for another P (confederate) not involved in Cyberball
– this ither person hates spicy food
– how much hot sauce do they give this other person?

a little acceptance goes a long way
- being accepted by even one person greatly reduces likelihood of rejected person lashing out
- additional acceptance had decreasing incremental effect

Question 11

What does the rejection along with our need to belong imply?

Answer 11

rejection promotes affiliation only if we see connecting with others as a realistic, and viable option:
- e.g., need to feel at least minimally accepted by others
- e.g., need to not generally fear rejection/expect others to reject us (low rejection sensitivity)

Question 12

What is satiation?

Answer 12

people seek out new relationships until their need to belong is met
- less motivated to seek out relationships once they feel like they have suffiient number of satisfying relationships

evidence:
- average student’s meaningful interactions happen with same 6 people
- poeple generally prioritize having a few close friends over having many, less close friends

Question 13

What is substitution?

Answer 13

need to belong can be satisfied by different relationships

evidence:
- as a romantic relationship develops, people generally spend less time with other people, including old friends
- people are more likely to cheat in relationships in which they feel lonely/rejected
– indication that need to belong is not met
- we replace relationships that have ended with new ones

what if we’re “hungry” for belonging and there’s no one to connect with?

Question 14

What are some creative substitutions to meet need to belong?

Answer 14

looking to para-social relationships

ascribing human characteristics to non-humans (anthropomorphism)
- pets
- technology
- objects

Question 16

Describe Powers et al.’s study on seeing life where there isn’t (2014).

Does unmet need to belong make us willing to lower bar for what we accept as social connection?

Answer 16

Method:
- manipulated feelings of connection/disconnection using future alone paradigm
- created animact judgment task
– animacy threshold: point at which P detects animacy
– lower threshold = accept face with less human features as animate

Hypothesis: feelings of social disconnection (future alone) should be associated with lower animacy threshold

results:
- people who receive “future alone” feedback had a lower animacy threshold than those who received “future belong” feedback
- suggests that social disconnection makes us lower the bar for acceptable social contact

Question 17

What are the consequences of chronic belonging deprivation?

Answer 17

poorer mental health
- lack of adequate supportive relationships associated with increased stress
- children who grew up not receiving adequate emotional attention from caregivers have poorer mental health

poorer physical health and immune response
- lonely people take longer to recover from stress, illness, and injury

mortality

Question 18

Describe holt-Lundstad et al.’s study on belonging lowers mortality risk (2010).

Answer 18

meta-analysis of 148 studies (308 849 Ps) looking at effects of social connection on social health

results: people who have stronger social relationships are 50% more likely to survive in a given time frame than those who have weaker relationships
- controlling for age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period

the influence of social relationships on mortality is comaprable, and even exceeds, the effect of well-established risk factors for mortality

Question 19

What is the evolutionary basis of need to belong?

Answer 19

social connection critical for survival
- attahcment system’s function is to ensure infants’ proximity to caregivers so that they survive
- connection to group
– fend off predators
– share labor, food, care for young

led to development of biological mechanism to motivate us to seek belonging to social groups and lasting relationships
- Hypothesis: pain system as biologicla mechanism underlying need to belong
– evolutionarily older physical pain system appropriated to prevent separation from others

Question 20

What are the neural correlates of physical pain?

Answer 20

activation in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) associated with emotional aspect of physical pain

Question 21

Describe Eisenberger et al.’s study on neural correlates of social pain (2003).

is social pain also processed in dACC?

Answer 21

Method:
- Ps played Cyberball while undergoing fMRI scan
– either included or excluded in game
- assessed feelings of rejection

Results: dACC activity associated with feelings of rejection

evidence that phyiscal and social pain are processed in the same brain region

physical and social pain overlap
- physical pain sensitivity associated with sensitivity to social exclusion (reported feelings of rejection in Cyberball)

Question 22

Describe DeWall et al.’s study on curing heartache with pain killers (2010).

does easing physical pain also easy social pain?

Answer 22

Method:
- experimental group: daily dose of Tylenol (acetaminophen) for 3 weeks
- Control group: placebo for 3 weeks
- feelings of social exclusions assessed via:
– daily evening self-report of hurt feelings
– Cyberball with fMRI after 3 weeks

Hypothesis: Tylenol would reduce feelings of social exclusion

results:
- tylenol group reported fewer hurt feelings (vs. placebo group)
- tylenol group showed less dACC activation after exclusion