Leaving the Loners Alone: Dispositional Preference for Solitude Evokes Ostracism

Abstract

What are the interpersonal consequences of seeking solitude? Leading theories in developmental research have proposed that having a general preference for solitude may incur significant interpersonal costs, but empirical studies are still lacking. In five studies (total N = 1,823), we tested whether target individuals with a higher preference for solitude were at greater risk for ostracism, a common, yet extremely negative, experience. In studies using self-reported experiences (Study 1) and perceptions of others' experiences (Study 2), individuals with a stronger preference for solitude were more likely to experience ostracism. Moreover, participants were more willing to ostracize targets with a high (vs. low) preference for solitude (Studies 3 and 4). Why do people ostracize solitude-seeking individuals? Participants assumed that interacting with these individuals would be aversive for themselves and the targets (Study 5; preregistered). Together, these studies suggest that seeking time alone has important (and potentially harmful) interpersonal consequences.

Keywords: exclusion; ostracism; person perception; preference for solitude.

Figure 1.

The association between preference for solitude and ostracism experience (Studies 1 and 2).

Figure 2.

The effects of perceived preference for solitude in targets (Studies 3 and 4).

Figure 3.

The effects of perceived preference for solitude in targets (Study 5).

Figure 4.

Multiple mediation model (Study 5). Note. bs are unstandardized. 95% confidence intervals are in brackets. Solid lines indicate significant paths; dashed lines indicate nonsignificant paths. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Figure 5.

Perceptions of targets (Studies 3–5).