Examining the relationship between trust and loneliness is crucial for understanding social dynamics and mental health.
Trust is fundamental to forming and maintaining relationships, while loneliness can significantly impact well-being.
By investigating how loneliness affects trust and vice versa, we can gain insights into why some individuals struggle to connect with others despite wanting social bonds.
Bellucci, G., & Park, S. Q. (2024). Loneliness is associated with more trust but worse trustworthiness expectations. British Journal of Psychology, 115(4), 641-664. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12713
Key Points
- Loneliness is associated with more trusting behavior but worse expectations of others’ trustworthiness.
- This creates a greater discrepancy between trusting behaviors and trustworthiness expectations in lonelier individuals.
- Personality traits like extraversion and agreeableness moderate these relationships.
- Extraversion is negatively associated with the discrepancy between trust and trustworthiness expectations.
- Lonelier individuals reported being less happy and having lower self-esteem.
- Females reported lower levels of loneliness than males.
- The study used economic games and Bayesian predictive models across three studies.
- Results suggest opposing effects of loneliness as both a motivator for social connections and a promoter of social withdrawal.
- Findings have implications for understanding how loneliness impacts social behavior and expectations, with potential clinical relevance.
Rationale
Loneliness, defined as perceived social isolation due to unsatisfying relationships, is a major risk factor for mental and physical health issues (Hawkley & Capitanio, 2015).
While loneliness has been proposed to function as an internal warning signal promoting social connection (Cacioppo, Grippo, et al., 2015), it has also been associated with hypervigilance for social threats (Cacioppo et al., 2014).
However, empirical evidence on how loneliness affects social behaviors and expectations is lacking.
Trust is central to social relationships, but no studies have thoroughly investigated the relationships between trusting behaviors and loneliness.
This study aimed to elucidate the effects of loneliness on socially relevant expectations of others and how these effects impact social behaviors, particularly focusing on trust and trustworthiness expectations.
Additionally, the study explored how personality traits like extraversion and agreeableness might moderate these relationships, as these traits have been associated with better social connections and lower loneliness levels (Lampraki et al., 2019; Mund & Neyer, 2018).
Method
The researchers conducted three consecutive studies using economic games and Bayesian predictive models to investigate the effects of loneliness on trusting behaviors and trustworthiness expectations.
Procedure
Participants completed questionnaires measuring loneliness, trustworthiness expectations, personality traits, and other relevant psychological constructs.
They also played economic games (one-shot investment game and dictator game) to measure trusting behavior.
Sample
- Study 1: 209 participants (163 females; mean age = 22.6 years, SD = 3.83)
- Study 2: 159 participants (81 females; mean age = 23.2 years, SD = 3.02)
- Study 3: 219 participants (86 females; mean age = 28.3 years, SD = 8.57)
Measures
- UCLA Loneliness Scale
- Preference Survey Module for Trust Preferences
- Big Five Inventory (for personality traits)
- Subjective Happiness Scale
- Self-Esteem Scale
- Momentary Feelings of Loneliness Scale
- Need to Belong Scale
- One-shot Investment Game (for trusting behavior)
- Dictator Game (to control for generosity)
Statistical measures
The researchers used Bayesian regression models with Student’s t errors to predict individual loneliness levels and personality traits.
They also conducted moderation analyses to test the role of personality traits in moderating the relationships between loneliness and trust/trustworthiness expectations.
Results
Hypothesis 1: Loneliness is associated with more trusting behavior but worse expectations of others’ trustworthiness.
Result: Confirmed. Lonelier individuals showed higher trust levels (Study 1: β = 0.51, 95% CI = [0.16; 0.87]; Study 3: β = 0.57, 95% CI = [0.26; 0.88]) but more negative trustworthiness expectations (Study 1: β = -0.16, 95% CI = [-0.26; -0.05]; Study 3: β = -0.21, 95% CI = [-0.29; -0.13]).
Hypothesis 2: The discrepancy between trusting behaviors and trustworthiness expectations is greater in lonelier individuals.
Result: Confirmed. A positive correlation was found between loneliness and the divergence between trust and trustworthiness expectations (Study 1: ρ204 = .37, p < .0001; Study 3: ρ217 = .40, p < .0001).
Hypothesis 3: Personality traits (extraversion and agreeableness) moderate the relationship between loneliness and trustworthiness expectations.
Result: Confirmed. Both extraversion and agreeableness moderated the negative relationship between loneliness and trustworthiness expectations (Study 2 and 3).
Hypothesis 4: Extraversion is negatively associated with the discrepancy between trust and trustworthiness expectations.
Result: Confirmed. Extraversion was negatively correlated with the directional discrepancy between trusting behaviors and expectations of others’ trustworthiness (Study 3: ρ217 = -.44, p < .0001).
Additional findings:
- Lonelier individuals reported being less happy and having lower self-esteem.
- Females reported lower levels of loneliness than males.
- Singles, older adults, and people from higher economic status reported higher loneliness levels.
Insight
This study provides novel insights into the complex relationships between loneliness, social expectations, and behaviors.
The finding that lonelier individuals trust more despite having more negative expectations of others’ trustworthiness suggests a potential compensatory mechanism.
This discrepancy might represent attempts by lonely individuals to connect with others despite their negative expectations, possibly to reduce their feelings of isolation.
However, their negative expectations might lead to negative evaluations of social feedback, potentially confirming their biased expectations and fostering social withdrawal.
The moderating role of personality traits like extraversion and agreeableness highlights the importance of individual differences in understanding and addressing loneliness.
These traits seem to buffer against the negative effects of loneliness on social expectations, possibly due to their association with more positive social experiences and outlooks.
The reversed relationship between extraversion and the trust-expectation discrepancy suggests that extraverts might engage in more authentic social behaviors, potentially leading to more positive social outcomes.
This finding extends previous research by highlighting how personality traits can influence the congruence between social expectations and behaviors.
Future research could explore the underlying mechanisms of these relationships, such as investigating how lonely individuals learn from and remember social interactions, or how they adjust their behavior in response to others’ reactions.
Longitudinal studies could also help understand how these relationships develop and change over time.
Implications
The findings have significant implications for clinical practice and future research. Clinicians working with lonely individuals should be aware of the potential discrepancy between their clients’ trusting behaviors and expectations.
Interventions could focus on aligning these aspects to promote more authentic and satisfying social interactions.
The moderating role of personality traits suggests that individualized approaches to addressing loneliness might be more effective than one-size-fits-all interventions.
For research, these findings open up new avenues for investigating the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms underlying loneliness.
Future studies could explore how the trust-expectation discrepancy affects social learning and relationship formation in lonely individuals.
The gender differences in loneliness reporting also warrant further investigation, particularly regarding the role of social norms and expectations in loneliness disclosure.
The study’s findings could inform the development of targeted interventions for loneliness, considering both behavioral and cognitive aspects.
For instance, interventions could focus on helping lonely individuals develop more accurate social expectations while maintaining their willingness to engage in trusting behaviors.
Strengths
The study had many methodological strengths including:
- Use of multiple studies to replicate and extend findings
- Combination of self-report measures and behavioral tasks (economic games)
- Application of advanced statistical methods (Bayesian analysis)
- Consideration of multiple relevant variables (personality traits, happiness, self-esteem)
- Use of a more diverse sample in Study 3 (Prolific platform) for better generalizability
Limitations
The study had several limitations:
- Lack of experimental manipulation of loneliness
- Artificial context of online studies, which may not fully capture real-world social interactions
- Potential impact of online anonymity on participants’ behavior and self-reports
- Cross-sectional nature of the studies, limiting causal inferences
- Possible cultural limitations, as the cultural background of participants was not specified
These limitations suggest caution in generalizing the findings to real-world situations and across different cultural contexts.
Longitudinal and experimental studies in more naturalistic settings could help address some of these limitations in future research.
References
Primary reference
Bellucci, G., & Park, S. Q. (2024). Loneliness is associated with more trust but worse trustworthiness expectations. British Journal of Psychology, 115(4), 641-664. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12713
Other references
Bellucci, G. (2020). Positive attitudes and negative expectations in lonely individuals. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 18595. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75712-3
Berg, J., Dickhaut, J., & McCabe, K. (1995). Trust, reciprocity, and social history. Games and Economic Behavior, 10(1), 122–142. https://doi.org/10.1006/game.1995.1027
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2009). Perceived social isolation and cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(10), 447–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.005
Cacioppo, S., Grippo, A. J., London, S., Goossens, L., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2015). Loneliness: Clinical import and interventions. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 238 249. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615570616
Hawkley, L. C., & Capitanio, J. P. (2015). Perceived social isolation, evolutionary fitness and health outcomes: A lifespan approach. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences, 370(1669), 20140114. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0114
Lampraki, C., Jopp, D. S., Spini, D., & Morselli, D. (2019). Social loneliness after divorce: Time-dependent differential benefits of personality, multiple important group memberships, and self-continuity. Gerontology, 65(3), 275–287. https://doi.org/10.1159/000494112
Mund, M., & Neyer, F. J. (2018). Loneliness effects on personality. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 43(2), 136–146. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025418800224
Keep Learning
Socratic questions for a college class to discuss this paper:
- How might the discrepancy between trust and trustworthiness expectations in lonely individuals affect their ability to form and maintain relationships?
- What are some potential explanations for why lonelier individuals might trust more despite having more negative expectations of others?
- How could the findings of this study inform interventions aimed at reducing loneliness?
- What are the ethical considerations in designing studies that measure or manipulate feelings of loneliness?
- How might cultural differences affect the relationships between loneliness, trust, and personality traits observed in this study?
- What are some potential long-term consequences of the trust-expectation discrepancy observed in lonely individuals?
- How might the findings of this study relate to other psychological phenomena, such as cognitive dissonance or self-fulfilling prophecies?
- In what ways could the use of economic games in this study be both advantageous and limiting for understanding real-world social behaviors?
- How might the relationship between loneliness and trust change across different life stages or in response to major life events?
- What are some potential neurobiological mechanisms that could explain the observed relationships between loneliness, trust, and social expectations?
