Social Stigmatization: Effects of Emotional Loneliness and Social Integration

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of loneliness and social integration on social stigmatizations, in order to understand negative perceptions placed on people. The study was a   2 x 2 within-subjects, a factorial design that involved participants to read and rate scenarios. The participants were 16 University of California, Los Angeles student’s, 14 females and two males. Loneliness had two levels, lonely or not lonely, operationally defined as satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with target person’s current relationships. Social integration had two levels, high or low, operationally defined as being involved, or not, in school-related activities with peers. The dependent variable was social stigmatization, operationally defined as the ratings of psychological attributes given by the participant. Consistent with our data, there were two significant main effects of social integration and loneliness p’s < .001. However, no significant interaction was found p = .905.

Keywords: loneliness, social integration, perception, social stigmatization