Titel
Homeostatic Regulation of Energetic Arousal During Acute Social Isolation: Evidence From the Lab and the Field
Autor*in
Livia Tomova
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
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Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that social contact is a basic need governed by a social homeostatic system. Little is known, however, about how conditions of altered social homeostasis affect human psychology and physiology. Here, we investigated the effects of 8 hr of social isolation on psychological and physiological variables and compared this with 8 hr of food deprivation in a lab experiment (N = 30 adult women). Social isolation led to lowered self-reported energetic arousal and heightened fatigue, comparable with food deprivation. To test whether these findings would extend to a real-life setting, we conducted a preregistered field study during a COVID-19 lockdown (N = 87 adults; 47 women). The drop in energetic arousal after social isolation observed in the lab replicated in the field study for participants who lived alone or reported high sociability, suggesting that lowered energy could be part of a homeostatic response to the lack of social contact.
Stichwort
social isolationfood deprivationenergetic arousalfatigueCOVID-19open datapreregistered
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1939539
Erschienen in
Titel
Psychological Science
Band
34
Ausgabe
5
ISSN
0956-7976
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Seitenanfang
537
Seitenende
551
Publication
SAGE Publications
Fördergeber
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
© The Author(s) 2023
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