A set of three studies showed that lonely individuals tend to trust others more, but expect those others to be less trustworthy. The situation was reversed in extraverted individuals, who also tended to be less lonely. The research was published in the British Journal of Psychology.
Loneliness is a distressing emotional state that develops when a person perceives a gap between the social connections they desire and their actual social connections. Being lonely does not necessarily mean a person is alone; one can feel lonely while being surrounded by other people. The key aspect of loneliness is the feeling of being isolated and disconnected from the people one wishes to be connected with.
Loneliness can be experienced temporarily due to specific circumstances or persist as a chronic issue. Chronic loneliness can adversely affect mental and physical health. Research has linked chronic loneliness to increased risks of depression, anxiety, cardiovascular diseases, and weakened immune function. Various factors, such as social skills, relationship quality, and life transitions like moving or bereavement, can contribute to feelings of loneliness.
Additionally, a person who feels lonely may reduce their social activities and become reluctant to form new relationships. This can create a vicious cycle, further isolating the individual and exacerbating feelings of loneliness and depression.
Study authors Gabriele Bellucci and Soyoung Q. Park wanted to investigate the effects feelings of loneliness might have on trusting behaviors and expectations about the trustworthiness of others. They reasoned that if loneliness fosters behaviors that help establish social relationships and bonds (as these might reduce or eliminate loneliness), lonely individuals should display higher levels of trust towards others. On the other hand, if loneliness induces a negativity bias (making withdrawal from social situations potentially easier), they should have low expectations about the trustworthiness of others. They conducted three studies.
The goal of the first study was to establish whether lonely individuals really expect others to be less trustworthy. Study participants were 209 young people, with an average age of 23 years; 163 were female. Participants played an economic game in which they decided how much money to give to their partner. The amount they gave to the partner was tripled, and the partner then decided whether to give anything back to the first person and how much. Although they did not know this, participants were always in the role of the first partner, deciding whether to share the initial amount. They were also told that any amount they had at the end of the game would be converted to real money and given to them.
After this, they played another game in which they simply decided whether they wanted to share the initial amount of money with a second player, allowing researchers to determine how much participants’ behavior was guided by trust versus other factors, such as generosity. Additionally, study participants completed assessments of loneliness (the UCLA Loneliness Scale), happiness, self-esteem, momentary feelings of loneliness, and the need to belong.
The second study used the same economic games, but participants also completed an assessment of personality (the Big Five Inventory). Study participants were 159 young people. The goal was to see whether the personality traits of extroversion and agreeableness changed the nature of the link between loneliness and participants’ expectations about the trustworthiness of others.
The third study was conducted online using SoSci Survey and Prolific. It included 219 participants. Its goal was to examine whether personality traits moderate the association between loneliness and trusting behaviors.
Results of the first study showed that individuals reporting greater feelings of loneliness tended to both trust others more and have lower expectations about the trustworthiness of others. In other words, lonelier individuals trusted more despite expecting others to be less trustworthy.
Results of the second study indicated that extroverted and more agreeable individuals tended to report feeling less lonely and to expect others to be more trustworthy. When taken together, results showed that individuals who were lonely but also introverted and less agreeable tended to perceive others as even less trustworthy and vice versa.
Lonely individuals had more favorable expectations of others’ trustworthiness the more extroverted and agreeable they were. Individuals with higher neuroticism tended to be lonelier, but this was not associated with expectations about trustworthiness in any way.
Results of the third study showed that extroverted individuals tended to trust their partners less than introverted individuals did, despite having higher expectations about the trustworthiness of the partner.
Overall, females reported lower levels of loneliness than males. Singles, older adults, and people of higher socioeconomic status tended to report higher levels of loneliness.
“Using economic games and Bayesian predictive models, we showed that higher levels of loneliness predicted a greater mismatch between social expectations and behaviors, with lonelier individuals trusting more despite more negative expectations of their partner’s trustworthiness. These effects were moderated by personality traits associated with a more positive outlook on social interactions like extraversion. Notably, the effects of loneliness on trusting behaviors and expectations of others’ trustworthiness were particularly strong for individuals with lower levels of extraversion,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the links between loneliness and trust in others. However, the presented studies used economic games involving relatively small amounts of money, and there was no interpersonal contact or relationship between partners in the games played. Results might not be identical if the amounts of money involved were substantial and the participants played with real individuals with whom they could communicate or whom they knew.
The study, “Loneliness is associated with more trust but worse trustworthiness expectations,” was authored by Gabriele Bellucci and Soyoung Q. Park.