Loneliness and interpersonal decoding skills

This paper reports the results of a study which examines the relationship between loneliness and participants’ ability to decode verbal and nonverbal messages. We also examined the relationship between loneliness and participants’ view of their own decoding ability. Ninety‐nine participants viewed the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT, a 30 scene video‐tape designed to measure verbal and nonverbal decoding ability) and completed the Differential Loneliness Scale and a self report measure of listening ability. Results indicate that the romantic loneliness dimension of the Differential Loneliness Scale is related to decoding ability. In addition we found moderate linear relationships between several of the dimensions of the Differential Loneliness Scale and the self report of listening ability and participants’ view of their own decoding ability.

Key concepts:

• Decoding
• interpersonal perception
• communication competence
• loneliness