The Need to Belong Flashcards
What is the fundamental Need to belong?
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
To satisfy this need, we have to have (2)
- Frequent pleasant interactions
- Long-lasting caring relationships
Status of Need to Belong Affects Emotions: Creating new social bonds is strongly associated with
positive feelings
- Life satisfaction strongly correlated with having 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
Definition of Social Reconnection Hypothesis
Feeling rejected motivates us to seek out new bonds and strengthen existing ones
Negative feelings associated with rejection are
adaptive
Social rejection is one indicator of
an unmet need to belong
Evidence for Social Reconnection Hypothesis: Future Alone VS Future Belonging Paradigm RESULTS
“Rejected” participants showed strongest desire to work with others
“Rejected” (vs. accepted) participants 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
But 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
Intensity of Rejection as a Moderator: Cyberball and Spicy Food RESULTS
Being accepted by even one person greatly reduces likelihood of rejected person lashing out
Additional acceptance had decreasing incremental effect
What is Rejection sensitivity?
disproportionate fear to being rejected
What is Rejection sensitivity associated with?
- Hyper-vigilance to signs of rejection (people pleasing to
- Very accommodating of others when rejection is not perceived
- Attempt to prevent rejection
- Over-interpreting neutral, ambiguous cues as rejection
- Aggressive (especially passive aggressive) behaviour when rejection is perceived
Rejection Sensitivity as a Moderator: Aggression RESULTS
Rejection elicited aggression only in those high in rejection sensitivity
Rejection promotes affiliation only if we see connecting with others as
realistic, and viable option
Define Satiation
People seek out new relationships until their need to belong is met
When are we less motivated to seek out relationships?
once they feel like they have a sufficient
number of satisfying relationships
Evidence of Satiation
- Average student’s meaningful interactions happen with same 6 people
- People generally prioritize having a few close friends over having many, less close friends
Define Substitution
Need to belong can be satisfied by different relationships
Evidence of Substitution
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
When people don’t see viable connections in real life… (2)
1) Para-social relationships
2) Ascribing human characteristics to non-humans (anthropomorphism, pets, technology and objects)
STUDY: Animate or inanimate + Future Alone Feedback RESULTS
People who received “future alone” feedback had a lower animacy threshold than those who received “future belong” feedback
What do these results suggests?
Suggests that social disconnection makes us lower the bar for acceptable social
contact
