Affiliation motivation in everyday experiences : a comparison of a homeostatic and a dialectic model
Date
1993
Authors
O'Connor, Shawn Casey
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Abstract
Two alternative conceptualizations of the process underlying affiliation motivation in everyday life were investigated. The first of these two views, the social affiliation model, reflects a homeostatic principle, whereas the second, privacy regulation theory, is based on a dialectic concept (Altman, 1975; Altman, Vinsel, & Brown, 1981). The everyday affiliative experiences of 66 subjects were obtained using the Experience-Sampling Method (ESM; Larson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1983). This method samples individuals' ongoing experiences by having them respond to a signal that is emitted from a small electronic device. The results of a lag 1 sequential analysis of transition frequencies indicated that when subjects' objective situation (i.e., either alone or in social contact) corresponded with their subjective situation (i.e., wanted to be either alone or in social contact), subjects were, on a subsequent signal, likely to be still in the same objective situation at greater-than-chance levels and to be in the opposite objective situation at less-than-chance levels (p < .01). These findings replicate pilot data and are consistent with the view of the social affiliation model that the process underlying affiliation motivation operates according to a homeostatic principle. Privacy regulation theory, on the other hand, was not supported. Additional analyses, which examined lags greater than 1 and subjects' transitions to specific subjective situations, also failed to support this latter model.
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UN SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities