Experiences of existential isolation and threat to social needs

There are many ways to feel isolated, including through interpersonal or existential experiences. The present research aims to clarify the causal psychological consequences of state existential isolation (i.e. feeling alone in one's subjective experiences) and to examine how these consequences overlap with, or diverge from, those elicited by other isolating experiences (i.e. social exclusion, being physically alone). Across three studies, we examined how experimentally induced existential isolation influences threat to fundamental social needs and emotional well-being, relative to neutral events and other forms of social disconnection. Results indicate that manipulations designed to elicit existential isolation reliably increase state existential isolation and threaten social needs (Studies 1-3), often comparably to manipulations of social exclusion (Study 2) and, in some cases, exceeding those associated with being physically alone (Study 3). Exploratory analyses of open-ended narratives suggest an overlap in the affective and contextual features of existential isolation, exclusion, and interpersonal isolation. Together, these findings underscore the importance of experimentally distinguishing existential isolation from related constructs to better understand the mechanisms through which social disconnection undermines psychological well-being.