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Homeostatic Regulation of Energetic Arousal During Acute Social Isolation: Evidence From the Lab and the Field

Ana Stijovic¹; Paul A G Forbes²; Livia Tomova³; Nadine Skoluda¹; Anja C. Feneberg¹; Giulio Piperno^1,4; Ekaterina Pronizius²; Urs M. Nater^1,5; Claus Lamm^2,5; Giorgia Silani^1,5

¹ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna · ² Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna · ³ Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge · ⁴ Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome · ⁵ University of Vienna Research Platform “The Stress of Life (SOLE) – Processes and Mechanisms Underlying Everyday Life Stress”

Recent evidence suggests that social contact is a basic need governed by a social homeostatic system. Little is known, however, about how conditions of altered social homeostasis affect human psychology and physiology. Here, we investigated the effects of 8 hr of social isolation on psychological and physiological variables and compared this with 8 hr of food deprivation in a lab experiment ( N = 30 adult women). Social isolation led to lowered self-reported energetic arousal and heightened fatigue, comparable with food deprivation. To test whether these findings would extend to a real-life setting, we conducted a preregistered field study during a COVID-19 lockdown ( N = 87 adults; 47 women). The drop in energetic arousal after social isolation observed in the lab replicated in the field study for participants who lived alone or reported high sociability, suggesting that lowered energy could be part of a homeostatic response to the lack of social contact.

DOI

10.1177/09567976231156413

Volume

34 (5)

Pages

537-551

Language

en

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