Loneliness, Cooperation, and Conformity Among American Undergraduates

Summary

Three studies (involving a total of 80 male and 101 female American undergraduates) tested the hypothesis that lonely persons' pessimistic feelings and expectations for self and others would interfere with usually adaptive social processes. Individuals classified as lonely, by the UCLA Loneliness Scale, were less confident in their opinions, and less willing than nonlonely persons to advance their opinions publicly—the first step in the social comparison process. Lonely males also were less conforming to a social consensus when making important judgments about the welfare of another individual. Similarly, they were less influenced by the behavior of a helpful model in a standard altruism experiment. Lonely females, however, were more conforming and more likely to match the responses of the model. Gender differences are discussed in terms of coping mechanisms which may be differentially available to men and women.