Graduation Year
2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Degree Granting Department
Psychology
Major Professor
Jennifer K. Bosson, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jamie Goldenberg, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Chad Dubé, Ph.D.
Keywords
mind-body problem, meaning-making, I-sharing, dissociation, self-determination
Abstract
Extant research investigating the nature of existential isolation (EI) has focused primarily on the experience of the gap between one’s mind and the minds of others (self-other EI). The general purpose of the current research was to begin exploring the experience of the gap between one’s mind and the world (self-world EI). This purpose was carried out across three studies. A pilot study confirms that self-world EI is a relatively common experience that usually involves meaning violation or dissociation, and results in psychological discomfort and self-doubt. Study 1 found that self-world existential isolation produces more “EI affect” (e.g., nervous, afraid, isolated, lonely, detached) than dental pain and daily routine experiences. Study 1 also tested the prediction that self-world EI should threaten self-determination needs (e.g., competence, relatedness) but support was not found for this prediction. However, a pair of exploratory mediation models found that self-world EI negatively threatened competence and relatedness needs indirectly through EI affect. Study 2 tested whether experiences of I-sharing (which attenuate self-other EI) and meaning-making (which attenuate self-world EI) fluidly compensate for threats to self-world and self-other EI, respectively. Results of Study 2 found that I-sharing and meaning-making did not attenuate feelings of EI more effectively than a distractor task. Taken together, the results of these studies suggest that self-other and self-world EI experiences produce a similar profile of negative affect that may have downstream consequences on self-need satisfaction. I discuss theoretical and clinical implications for these findings.
Scholar Commons Citation
Young, Roger Jr., "From Other and From World: Expanding the Current Model of Existential Isolation" (2023). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/10143
