Overview of the New Edition of this Handbook
The chapters in this second edition of the Handbook of Solitude provide the reader with a mix of updated perspectives and research on topics covered in the first handbook, as well as all new chapters examining original topics related to solitude. Although we have expanded our coverage of important topics related to solitude, we still examine solitude from multiple psychological perspectives, during different developmental periods across the life span, and across a broad range of contexts. Moreover, the contributing authors represent a “who’s who” of international experts in their related areas.
The first section of this volume focuses on theoretical approaches to understanding various aspects of solitude. The section provides a balance of perspectives that, in some chapters, examine the adaptive and beneficial aspects of solitude, with other chapters that employ a lens revealing the potentially problematic aspects of solitude. To begin, Hassan, MacGowan, Poole, and Schmidt (Chapter 2) explore the possible adaptive function of shyness from evolutionary and neuroscientific perspectives. From a very different lens, Mikulincer, Shaver, and Gal (Chapter 3) describe the contribution of attachment theory to our understanding of loneliness in the face of solitude. In having these two chapters open the book, the reader is immediately challenged to think about both positive and negative aspects of solitude and, at the same time, the role of both biology and the environment (e.g., the family) in understanding the display of solitude, its meaning, and its impact. In their chapter, Zeytinoglu and Fox (Chapter 4) examine the effects of social deprivation and social isolation on developmental outcomes by demonstrating how work with animals (nonhuman) provide important models to understand the potential effects of deprivations in social experiences. Then, Galanaki (Chapter 5) returns the reader to a perspective that examines the benefits of solitude as she provides psychoanalytic perspectives of the solitary self, including the ability to be alone, the necessity of being alone, as well as the companionable nature of solitude. The section concludes with Chen and Liu (Chapter 6) providing a chapter that lays a foundation for the importance of considering culture as a context for solitude as they examine culture, social withdrawal, and development. Taken together, this opening section lays the conceptual framework for the rest of the book by underscoring that an examination of the good and the bad of solitude must consider the role of biology, the influence of factors in the immediate environment (e.g., family, peers), and the effect of the broader context (culture) in which solitude occurs.
The second section of the book is organized to present the study of solitude in different developmental stages across the life span spanning the years from early childhood to older adulthood. However, equally represented here is heterogeneous nature of solitude, with various different conceptualizations, types, and psychological processes related to solitude represented. Mumper and Klein (Chapter 7) examine the construct of temperament known as behavioral inhibition (the tendency to exhibit fearful/withdrawn behavior in response to unfamiliar people and novel contexts), including the genetic, biological, cognitive, and environmental risk factors associated with its development, maintenance, and links with psychopathology. Coplan, Ooi, and Hipson (Chapter 8) then explore the causes and consequences of different solitary activities in a variety of contexts (school and nonschool settings) from early childhood to adolescence. Whereas Coplan and colleagues address, among other things, aspects of solitude that youth choose to engage in, Ladd and colleagues (Chapter 9) continue the discussion of solitude in interpersonal contexts but focus on aspects of solitude that children and adolescents rarely choose. Specifically, the chapter shines light on the negative aspects of peer experiences that include rejection, exclusion, and victimization. Continuing with an emphasis on the role of experiences with peers, Bowker, White, and Etkin (Chapter 10) focus their lens specifically on the period of adolescence as they examine social withdrawal and experiences at both the group (e.g., rejection, exclusion) and dyadic (e.g., friendships) levels of social complexity.
Developmentally, the end of adolescence marks a change in the level of structure (e.g., oversight by adults including parents, teachers, and coaches). Given that emerging adults can now choose for themselves how much time to spend with others or in solitude, Nelson and Millett (Chapter 11) discuss how motivations to withdraw from social interactions may be tied, in positive and negative ways, to development during the transition to adulthood. For an increasing number of people, this path toward and into adulthood is made as a single (e.g., not married) individual. Adamczyk (Chapter 12) provides insight into what we know about singlehood in adulthood including the multitude of reasons for singlehood and the links between singlehood and aspects of adjustment and maladjustment. Finally, our developmental coverage of withdrawal across the life span concludes with a look by Hoppman and colleagues (Chapter 13) into solitude experienced by individuals in older adulthood.
The third section of the handbook is aimed at unpacking the complexity that is solitude. The section attempts to showcase the number of different ways to think about aspects of solitude, including different constructs, processes, and contexts, that when combined increase our understanding of the broader concept of solitude. To begin the section, Nikitin and Schoch (Chapter 14) employ the lens of social approach motivations (dispositional motivation to approach positive social outcomes), and social avoidance motivations (the dispositional motivation to avoid negative social outcomes) to explain why some individuals are better able to establish and maintain satisfying social relationships than others. That is followed by Wesselmann and colleagues’ (Chapter 15) treatment of the painful experience of ostracism including the various affective, cognitive, and behavioral reactions to being ignored and excluded. Next, Nguyen, Weistein, and Ryan (Chapter 16) explore some of the myriad of factors that serve to shape solitary experiences, including the reasons for which we find ourselves alone, the implications of different solitary activities, and the characteristics of solitude that make it feel more true and authentic to the individual. This chapter also highlights the importance of autonomous (intrinsic) motivations in the positive experience and impact of solitude.
The next two chapters address a unique context for solitude. As noted previously, the media‐saturated world in which we now live is providing a context that is reshaping how we think about solitude. In exploring the darker side, as it were, of media, Kim (Chapter 17) examines the bidirectional links between problematic use of media and psychological maladjustment with an emphasis on loneliness. Burnell, George, and Underwood (Chapter 18) then highlight how new media has the potential to connect us to others as well as to isolate us from others by focusing on social networking sites and mobile phones and their relation to young people’s social adjustment and maladjustment. Continuing with the notion that solitude has both the potential for good and bad, Paulus, Kenworthy, and Marusich (Chapter 19) explicate how finding the right balance between being alone and being together can promote creativity, and Eccles, Kazmier, and Ehrhart (Chapter 20) look into the world of highly skilled athletes to show how solitude can be a means
