After experiencing an emotional event, people either seek out others’ presence (social affiliation) or avoid others’ presence (social isolation). The determinants and effects of social affiliation are now well-known, but social psychologists have not yet thoroughly studied social isolation. This study aims to ascertain which motives and corresponding regulation strategies participants report for social isolation following negative emotional events. A group of 96 participants retrieved from memory an actual negative event that led them to temporarily socially isolate themselves and freely listed up to 10 motives for social isolation. Through semantic categorization of the 423 motives reported by the participants, we found that “cognitive clarification” and “keeping one’s distance” – that is, the need for cognitive regulation and the refusal of socioaffective regulation, respectively – were the most commonly and quickly reported motives for social isolation. We discuss the findings in terms of ideas for future studies aimed at clarifying the role of social isolation in health situations.

中文翻译：

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消极情绪发作后社会孤立的动机

在经历了情感事件后，人们要么寻求他人的存在（社会归属），要么避免他人的存在（社会孤立）。社会归属的决定因素和影响现在众所周知，但社会心理学家尚未彻底研究社会孤立。本研究旨在确定参与者在负面情绪事件后报告的社会孤立的动机和相应的调节策略。一组 96 名参与者从记忆中提取了一个实际的负面事件，该事件导致他们暂时与社会隔离，并自由列出了多达 10 个社会隔离的动机。通过对参与者报告的 423 个动机进行语义分类，我们发现“认知澄清”和“保持距离”——即，分别需要认知调节和拒绝社会情感调节——是最常见和最迅速报道的社会孤立动机。我们根据未来研究的思路讨论这些发现，旨在阐明社会孤立在健康状况中的作用。