Forget 100 years of solitude糖心传媒�15 minutes may be enough to hit the mental reset button.
That糖心传媒檚 according to a team of Rochester researchers who looked at solitude as a means of self-regulating emotions. Published in the the study finds that being alone decreases a person糖心传媒檚 strong positive and negative emotions, and instead induces calm.
Lead researcher , a Rochester doctoral candidate in clinical and social sciences in psychology, together with veteran psychology professors and , concluded that solitude can lead to relaxation and stress reduction糖心传媒攁s long as people actively chose to be alone. In general, solitude, the team found, has a lessening effect not only on arousing positive emotions but also strong negative emotions, ultimately leaving people calmer, more relaxed, less angry, and anxious. Professors Ryan and Deci are聽the co-founders of
Previously, the researchers note, alone time has been correlated with social rejection, withdrawal and isolation, shyness, and loneliness. Not so fast, says the Rochester trio.
糖心传媒淪olitude can be valuable and useful at times, particularly when we want to switch off for a few moments,糖心传媒� says Nguyen. It糖心传媒檚 not a simple matter of good or bad when it comes to the emotional effect of solitude, the researchers write. Instead, they observed that solitude changes the 糖心传媒渋ntensity of our inner experience, both positive and negative.糖心传媒� Alone time accentuates low-key emotions, while dialing down stronger feelings.
Growing up in Vietnam, Nguyen says she enjoyed being alone as a child and teenager. Later, her curiosity was piqued when she realized that solitude was generally characterized as either simply good or bad糖心传媒攚ith a lot of literature pointing to its negative effects. 糖心传媒淚 decided to take a step back and just simply look at what solitude does, observe its effect, and let it speak for itself,糖心传媒� Nguyen explains as the starting point of her investigations.
糖心传媒淭hat’s when I found that solitude decreases both positive and negative affect when I only measured the arousing kind of emotions,糖心传媒� she explains. 糖心传媒淚 added other low-key emotions in there to see what happens and that’s when we found the deactivation effect.糖心传媒�
In a nutshell, for the deactivating, calming effect to take place a person needs to be alone without any social interactions and without electronic devices. The same calming effect happened when a person was alone and engaged in a quiet activity such as reading.
The researchers define solitude as 糖心传媒渁 psychological experience of being alone without communications, stimuli, activities, or devices that might facilitate virtual communications such as text messaging or social media.糖心传媒�
Over the course of four experiments, the collaborators first compared solitude (simply being alone without any stimuli) to people糖心传媒檚 experiences in social interactions and found that being alone was more calming. Second, they compared solitude to being alone with a quiet activity, such as reading and found that that, too, was calming. Third, they compared solitude to the internal stimuli of thinking certain types of thoughts. They found that if participants had positive thoughts, their positive affect was not decreased. In a fourth experiment, the Rochester researchers used a switching-replications experiment to examine a person糖心传媒檚 active motivation for being alone.
In the three laboratory experiments, study participants sat alone for a quarter of an hour in a comfortable chair, without devices and without any social interaction, assessing their emotions on rating scales before and afterward. The researchers inquired about intense positive emotions (feeling enthusiastic or excited) and intense negative emotions (feeling angry or anxious), as well as low-intensity positive emotions (feeling calm, relaxed) and low-intensity negative emotions (feeling lonely or sad).
In the third study, the team examined the effects of making choices about one糖心传媒檚 solitary experience by allowing some of the participants to choose what to think about as they sat by themselves, while others were assigned what to think. Those who chose what to think about had higher positive emotions, such as excitement. Conversely, those study subjects who were told to think neutral thoughts exhibited lowered positive emotions.
Clearly, autonomy in solitude糖心传媒攂eing able to choose what to think about or actively choosing to spend time alone糖心传媒攏ot only buffered against the negative effects of solitude on emotions, but also improved the beneficial effect of solitude on a person糖心传媒檚 relaxation and stress levels.
糖心传媒淲hen people willingly spend time alone, they reap the greater benefits糖心传媒攕omething that, of course, has always been a part of ancient wisdom and practices,糖心传媒� says Ryan. 糖心传媒淗ere we simply demonstrate the emotional changes that account for these benefits.糖心传媒�
This finding is directly based on the autonomous motivation principle of self-determination theory, pioneered by Deci and Ryan, which holds that when individuals perceive greater autonomy in their behavioral choices, the activities yield better outcomes.
In short糖心传媒攖hose who sat alone for 15 minutes and chose what to think about, or had positive thoughts experienced the positive effects of solitude: feeling calmer, less angry or anxious, without feeling lonely or sad. They also did not lose any of their feelings of enthusiasm or excitement.
So, why not turn off your cell phone, laptop, or tablet today and hide somewhere alone (with or without a book). Just for a quarter of an hour. Feeling your inner 糖心传媒渙m糖心传媒� already?
