The dialectics of aloneness: positive vs. negative meaning and differential assessment

ABSTRACT

This paper is focused on the problem of the positive and the negative sides of being alone. Complex analysis of the problem includes philosophical anthropology, psychological personality theory, and psychometric data. Traditional views treat loneliness as a negative condition of frustration of the inherent sociality of human beings. This view is basically true but one-sided; the other side of the issue should consider the propension of personality development for internalization of social communications and shaping the inner world of auto-communication, or inner dialogue. This auto-communication creates the psychological basis of self-reflection. Solitude thus appears as an important resource that becomes salient only at a relatively advanced developmental stage. The theoretical model is supported by data collected using the new Differential Test of Aloneness (DTA) which embraces both negative and positive aspects of the experiences of being alone.

KEYWORDS:

• Aloneness
• loneliness
• solitude
• personality development
• existential psychology

Acknowledgments

The article was prepared within the framework of the HSE University Basic Research Program and funded by the Russian Academic Excellence Project ‘5-100ʹ. The author is very grateful to Martin Lynch, Ph.D., for valuable comments on the first draft of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the HSE University Basic Research Program and Russian Academic Excellence Project “5-100”;

Notes on contributors

Dmitry Leontiev

Dmitry Leontiev – Ph.D., Professor, Head of International laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation at HSE University, Moscow, Russia. His research cover a broad field of issues of personality psychology bridging cultural-historical, existential, and positive psychology, as well as philosophical anthropology and systems theory.