Circling Science

Connection Heals Wounds: Feeling Listened to Reduces Speakers’ Loneliness Following a Social Rejection Disclosure

Guy Itzchakov, Netta Weinstein, Dvori Saluk and Moty Amar · 2023 (online 2022)

Evidence
Experiment
Kind
Journal article
peer-reviewed
Method
Five experiments manipulating listening quality; two involved live conversations
Sample
1,643 participants across five experiments
Published
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(8), 1273–1294

Adjacent

Studies a related practice or mechanism, without testing Circling.

Five experiments found that attentive, understanding listening reduced immediate loneliness when people discussed or imagined discussing a past rejection.

What it doesn’t show

Three studies used video, recall or imagined situations; two involved live dialogue. Outcomes were participants’ ratings taken during the experimental session, without later follow-up. The findings do not establish lasting relief from loneliness, and the mediation analyses do not prove the proposed mechanisms.

Summary based on the abstract and the full text’s study methods, results and discussion.

Directions that build on it

  1. Active ingredients

    Builds on 10 works · 3 funding routes

    Which parts of the practice do the work: present-moment attention, disclosure, or hearing how you affect others?

Links

Cite

Itzchakov, G., Weinstein, N., Saluk, D., & Amar, M. (2023). Connection Heals Wounds: Feeling Listened to Reduces Speakers’ Loneliness Following a Social Rejection Disclosure. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(8), 1273–1294. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221100369