The Influence Of Loneliness And Importance Of Interpersonal Goals On Interpersonal Goal Pursuit

Human beings are social animals with the need for social connection.When there is a difference between desired social connection and actual social connection,and the need for belonging is unmet,individuals will experience the sense of loneliness that causes many negative consequences.According to the evolutionary theory of loneliness,loneliness would motivate individuals to establish positive social connections to compensate for unmet belong needs.In fact,lonely individuals did not always seek social connection,this maybe related to objects whom they contact.For example,belongingness hypothesis suggested that establishing relationships with dislikes and unfamiliar people could not meet individuals’ need for belonging,and thus,individuals would not seek social connections.As for the social connections that individuals desire—interpersonal goals,which reflect individuals’ interpersonal needs that basing on their own desires and have high autonomy motivation—whether lonely individuals increase social connections,which the research hoped to explore.Since most of us experience short-term loneliness(state loneliness)in daily life,and only a few experience long-term loneliness(trait loneliness).And researches found that both of short-term loneliness and long-term loneliness had negative effects on cognition and physiology,but there were differences in intensity.However,most of existing researches payed attention to consequences of long-term loneliness.Thus,based on examining the impact of short-term loneliness on interpersonal goal pursuit,the current research also explored differences between the influence of the two types of loneliness on interpersonal goal pursuit.As a basic motivation,belonging need will be more important when the sense of belonging is missing,individuals will do their best to achieve the interpersonal goal.But,previous researches found that lonely individuals were negative to others,interpersonal interactions and social information,and loneliness also induced unconscious self-protection motivation and high vigilance against threats,so in the state of coexistence of self-protection goals and interpersonal connection goals,the choice of reducing contact or increasing contact maybe related to their assessments of the importance of two goals.The research explored the potential mechanism of the influence of loneliness on interpersonal goal pursuit from the explicit level of the importance of interpersonal goals.Above all,based on the belongingness hypothesis and goal-directed resource redistribution theory,the research examined the relationship between loneliness and interpersonal goal investment and the role of importance of interpersonal goal by three studies.Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey(2017),Study1 examined the relationship between short-term loneliness and the contact frequency that individuals contact with families,friends,and parents whom they most connected and were considered as the most likely to meet their belonging needs,and explored the impact of age,gender and marital status on loneliness.Results showed that U-shape relationship between loneliness and age,i.e.,loneliness decreased and then increased with age,and there was a significant difference between male and female,that female were more loneliness than male.The impact of marital status on loneliness showed that marriage had a mitigating effect on loneliness,and people with spouses were less lonely than unmarried,divorced,separated,and Widows.Analysis of loneliness and interpersonal connection showed that higher loneliness were associated with less frequency of contact with parents,children,and friends.Study 2 manipulated loneliness and investigated the impact of loneliness on interpersonal goal investment,and found that loneliness reduced the willingness to invest in interpersonal goals,and all participants in the study filled in the approach goals of social connection,but in fact,lonely people did not intend to alleviate loneliness by seeking contact,and their willingness to invest in interpersonal goals was lower.Study 3 explored the effect of long-term loneliness and short-term loneliness on interpersonal goal investment,and the role of importance of interpersonal goal by two studies.Study 3a showed that long-term loneliness was significantly negatively correlated with importance of interpersonal goals and interpersonal goal investment,and importance of interpersonal goals played a partial mediating role between long-term loneliness and interpersonal goal investment,that is,long-term loneliness reduced interpersonal goal investment by reducing the assessment of goal importance.Results of study 3b showed that short-term loneliness was significantly negatively correlated with interpersonal goal investment,the correlation of short-term loneliness and importance of interpersonal goals was nonsignificant,and importance of interpersonal goals did not play a mediating role between short-term loneliness and interpersonal goal investment.In summary,the research explores the influence of loneliness on interpersonal goal pursuit through three studies,and there are negative correlations between long-term loneliness and short-term loneliness and interpersonal goal investment,but there are still differences between long-term loneliness and short-term loneliness.Specially,the impact of long-term loneliness on negative cognition is continuous,and the importance of interpersonal goals plays an important role in the impact of long-term loneliness on interpersonal goal investment;negative cognition caused by short-term loneliness can recover in the short term.The current research provides preliminary evidence for reaffiliation motive model,and provides ideas for intervention in changing motivation and cognition in short-term loneliness intervention.