Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Graham, Steven

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Research has found that social isolation, especially in the case of ostracism, can have many negative effects on individuals. However, some factors decrease the extent of the negative effects. One such factor is an individual’s motivation for solitude: the reasons one seeks experiences of solitude and how they use them. Two studies expand solitude research into the workplace setting. The first study used a cross-sectional survey and examined how motivation for solitude related to relationship quality and satisfaction among coworkers, and how the association between ostracism and negative mental health is related to self-determined motivation for solitude. Self-determined motivation for solitude seemed to decrease the strength of the association between ostracism and negative mental health, but was not significantly related to coworker relationship quality or satisfaction. The second study used an experimental design to manipulate how individuals spent time in solitude and measure their success and enjoyment of a subsequent partner task. The experiment could not be completed due to logistical issues, so this thesis instead discusses the hypotheses and how to improve the experiment for the future. Encouraging self-determined motivation for solitude, as well as productive use of solitude, may improve employee well-being.

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