The Correlation between Loneliness and Social Desirability and the Effect on Metaperceptions

Abstract

The effect of loneliness and social desirability on metaperceptions was investigated in this study. The UCLA Loneliness scale was used to determine whether a participant was high or low in loneliness and the Impression Management subscale of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding was used to determine the participant’s score in social desirability. Participants scoring high in loneliness and low on social desirability were hypothesized to have an increase in negative metaperceptions. This hypothesis was found to be significantly supported, F (1, 36) = 14.08, p < .001 showing an interaction between social desirability and loneliness attributing positive or negative metaperceptions to this. A main effect was found for loneliness, F (1, 36) = 433.87, p < .000, although there was not a significant main effect for social desirability, F (1, 36) = ns.

Introduction

Social desirability is the desire to be viewed in a positive light by others. Previous research (Porrata, 1993) has found that subjects who score high on social desirability tend to be more conforming whereas subjects who score lower are found to express themselves more freely.

Lonely people may feel as though they have no sense of belonging. Evidence in previous literature (Powling & Hopes, 1988) shows that “the lonely tend to evaluate themselves and others negatively, but that others in general do not view the lonely unfavorably”.

Metaperceptions are what one thinks others think of them (Kisler, 1998). Albright, Forest, & Reiseter (2001) state “the desire to create a particular impression of oneself to others is a fundamental interpersonal motive that should be followed by an assessment of the success of the self-presentation”. In the present study, the possible relationship between loneliness, social desirability and metaperceptions is evaluated.

The participants will take the Differential Loneliness Scale (DLS) as well as the social desirability inventory (Impression Management subscale of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding). Undergraduate roommates will choose from a number of character traits that they feel describe their roommates and then will separately choose from a number of character traits that they feel their roommates would use to describe them. Characteristics will be compared among roommates to see if negative metaperceptions correlate with high scores on the loneliness scale and high desirability among participants. The inventories will be scored and a record will be kept of the correlation between the two. The characteristics that participants believe their roommate will use to describe them and the characteristics that are actually chosen will be compared and used to decide whether or not the participants have positive or negative metaperceptions. This will then be compared to the inventory scores using the Pearson r to see if participants who score high on the loneliness and social desirability inventories also have negative metaperceptions and vice versa.

It is hypothesized that participants who score high in loneliness will score lower on social desirability and will have an increase in negative metaperceptions. Lonely people may have less of a desire to please others; therefore they may believe that others have negative perceptions of them.

People who are high in social desirability tend to do things that they believe will please other people. The willingness to help can be viewed as an act that is done in order to please others. Previous research (Kalliopuska, 1992) has found that there is a significant positive correlation between the willingness to help and high social desirability.

Previous research (Leak & Parsons, 2001) has also shown that “participants have a tendency to present themselves in a positive light, and this can affect the validity of their self-reports.” There are two different types of desirable responding; the first is conscious response distortion, also known as impression management, and the second is unconscious self-deception, also known as self-deception enhancement. The first is a deliberate deception, while the second is an honest, although possibly inaccurate, overly positive self-description. Participants in the Leak & Parson’s study took a series of questionnaires to evaluate attachment styles and social desirability. This study is important to look at because the social desirability scale employed was a larger scale of the inventory to be used in the present study. This investigation found that the evaluations regarding the three attachment styles reflected an influence of the conscious response distortion. Evaluations concerning two of the three attachment styles were also found to be influenced by the unconscious self-deception. In other words, the results of the questionnaires were found to be inaccurate, due to the participants’ desire to appear favorably, whether it be conscious or unconscious. Several studies have been done regarding the relationship between social desirability and loneliness.

Loneliness can be described as not feeling as though one belongs. Previous research (Powling & Hopes, 1988) was done in which college students were evaluated for “desirability and acquaintanceship by members of other groups”. Results (Powling & Hopes, 1988) found that being less attractive and loneliness are significantly correlated. Lonely people may be less inclined to care about their appearance because of low social desirability. They may not care how others view them, therefore not paying much attention to their physical appearance.

Wittenberg & Reis (1986) studied the interdependence of social skills, perceptions of others, and sex-role orientation in pairs of first year college roommates. Results (Wittenberg & Reis, 1986) show that the “lonelier the subjects were, the more deficient they were in relationship formation and maintenance skills”. These subjects also had more negative perceptions of their roommates. The inadequacy of social skills and negativity were both found to be connected to loneliness together and separately (Wittenberg & Reis, 1986). Social assertion, acceptance and responsiveness to others were found to be important character traits in avoiding loneliness (Wittenberg & Reis, 1986). The results of this study support the notion that people who are not lonely may also have higher social desirability versus people who are lonely and tend to be deficient in their social skills and negative towards others.

Metaperceptions are what one thinks others think of them. Previous research (Albright et al.) focused on integrating self-presentation and metaperception. Participants were paired up and were assigned roles to act out. The actors’ metaperceptions and their partners’ trait judgements were measured. There was a “high level of accuracy in actors’ metaperceptions but no accuracy in partners’ trait judgements of the actors”. These results are not suprising because the actors were trying to portray a certain image. Their metaperceptions were accurate which means they were successful in enacting the certain roles. In a study (Kisler, 1998) that compared perceptions and metaperceptions among bulimic patients and another female partner, the bulimic patients “thought that they had made a more negative impression than they actually had”. There were no differences in how the two groups of women actually perceived each other (Kisler, 1998). This supported the hypothesis that the bulimic women would have more negative metaperceptions, but did not support that they would also be perceived more negatively by their female partners (Kisler, 1998). There was a significant amount of variance among the bulimic patients and their female counterparts in social desirability and their perceptions and metaperceptions (Kisler, 1998). The bulimic patients scored lower on social desirability but scored higher on loneliness (Kisler, 1998). This helps to support the present hypothesis that there will be a negative correlation between loneliness and social desirability with an increase in negative metaperceptions.

Method

Participants

40 pairs of undergraduate college roommates participated in this study. All participants were at least 18 years of age and literate. Participants had the option of receiving extra credit in undergraduate psychology courses at the professor’s discretion.

Apparatus/Measures

To measure loneliness, participants completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3) (Appendix A). The scale consists of statements that describe how people may sometimes feel. Participants were asked to indicate how often they feel the way described by writing a number in the space provided. 1 meaning never, 2 meaning rarely, 3 meaning sometimes and 4 meaning always.

To measure social desirability, participants were given the Impression Management subscale of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Appendix B). Participants will be asked to rate each question on a 7-point scale; 7 being very true and 1 being very false.

Participants were also given two identical lists of positive and negative character traits (Appendix C). The first list they were given was used to indicate characteristics that they believed their roommate would use to describe them. The second list was used for indication of the characteristics they would use to describe their roommate. The characteristics were compared among roommates to see if negative metaperceptions correlate with high scores on the loneliness scale and low desirability among participants.

Procedure

Participants were first asked to fill out a consent form. Next participants chose the characteristics that they believe their roommate would use to describe them. They were then given the UCLA Loneliness Scale followed by the second list of characteristics used to describe their roommate. They then filled out the Social Desirability inventory followed by a debriefing, completing the subject’s participation in the study.

Results

To score the results of the UCLA Loneliness Scale the numbers (1-4) are reversed for indicated questions (*). For example; for a score of 4, 1 point will be given. For a score of 2, 3 points will be given. The points are then be added up to determine how lonely the participant is.

The social desirability inventory is scored as follows: every odd numbered question that receives a score of 1 or 2 will be given one point and every even numbered question that receives a score of 6 or 7 will receive one point. The points are then added up to determine the participants’ level of social desirability.

The characteristics that participants believe their roommate will use to describe them and the characteristics that are actually chosen were compared and used to decide whether or not the participants have positive or negative metaperceptions. This was then compared to the inventory scores to see if participants who score high on the loneliness scale and low on the social desirability inventory also have negative metaperceptions and vice versa.

The results showed a major main effect of loneliness with the scores on the UCLA loneliness test proving to be statistically significant, F (1, 36) = 433.87, p = < .000. There was not a significant main effect for social desirability, F (1, 36) = ns. There was however an interaction between social desirability and loneliness, F (1/36) = 14.08, p = < .001. This means that positive or negative metaperceptions depend on if a person is high or low in loneliness and whether they score high or low on the social desirability inventory. These results support the hypothesis stating that there will be a negative correlation between loneliness and social desirability with an increase in negative metaperceptions. For example, if a person scores low on social desirability and high on loneliness they will have an increase in negative metaperceptions.

Discussion

This study will contribute to the research done on the effects of loneliness, social desirability and metaperceptions on each other and separately. Further research could be done concerning loneliness and social desirability, loneliness and metaperceptions and social desirability and metaperceptions because it was difficult to find research to support the hypothesis stating there will be a negative correlation between loneliness and social desirability with an increase in negative metaperceptions.

References

Albright, L., Forest, C., & Reiseter, K. (2001). Acting, behaving, and the selfless basis of

metaperception. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 81 (5), 910-921.

Kalliopuska, M. (1992). Social Desirability Related to Children’s Age, Sex, and

Willingness to Help. Psychological Reports, 70 (2), 479-482.

Kisler, V.A. (1998). Perceptions and metaperceptions of same-sex social interactions in

college women with troubled eating patterns. Dissertation Abstracts

International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, 58 (9B), 5124.

Leak, G.K. & Parsons, C.J. (2001). The susceptibility of Three Attachment Style

Measures to Socially Desirable Responding. Social Behavior and Personality, 29 (1), 21-30.

Porrata, J.L. (1993). Differences in Social Desirability Scores of Students in Private and

Public Schools. Psychological Reports, 72 (3 Pt 1), 967-970.

Powling, M., & Hopes, W. (1988). Loneliness, self-characterization and acquaintance in

student groups. Australian Psychologist, 23 (1), 45-53.

Wittenberg, M.T., & Reis, H.T. (1986). Loneliness, social skills, and social perception.

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 12 (1), 121-130.

Appendix A

The UCLA Loneliness Scale

NEVER-1 RARELY-2 SOMETIMES-3 ALWAYS-4

*1. How often do you feel that you are “in tune” with the people around you?

2. How often do you feel that you lack companionship?

3. How often do you feel that there is no one you can turn to?

4. How often do you feel alone?

*5. How often do you feel part of a group of friends?

*6. How often do you feel that you have a lot in common with the people around you?

7. How often do you feel that you are no longer close to anyone?

8. How often do you feel that your interests and ideas are not shared by those around you?

*9. How often do you feel outgoing and friendly?

*10. How often do you feel close to people?

11. How often do you feel left out?

12. How often do you feel that your relationships with others are not meaningful?

13. How often do you feel that no one really knows you well?

14. How often do you feel isolated from others?

*15. How often do you feel you can find companionship when you want it?

*16. How often do you feel that there are people who really understand you?

17. How often do you feel shy?

18. How often do you feel that people are around you but not with you?

*19. How often do you feel that there are people you can talk to?

*20. How often do you feel that there are people you can turn to?