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MAN ALA STAS 9 5
*E-mai l: e ric _j uli an .ma na lastas@up. edu .p h
PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY, 2010, 44 (1), 95-106
COPYRIGHT @ 2011 PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES
An Exercise to Teach the Psychological
Benefits of Solitude:
The Date with the Self
Eric Julian Manalastas
University of the Philippines Diliman
Solitude – time spent by oneself – is a common human experience, though
its possible benefits may not be appreciated by many. In a pretest-posttest
quasi-experimental evaluation of an exercise designed to teach the
psychological benefits of solitude, 54 undergraduate students went on a
date with the self, i.e., planning and deliberately spending an afternoon or
evening by oneself engaged in personally chosen leisure activity. Results
showed that the date with the self produced significant gains in appreciation
of time spent alone, relative to a comparison group of 49 students. Of the
features of solitude, anonymity and low levels of negative affect during the
exercise accounted for increased appreciation for time spent alone, while
feelings of inner peace, low levels of loneliness, and previous attitudes
toward solitude were related to overall enjoyment of the activity.
Solitude, time alone, preference for solitude, loneliness, well-being
Solitude – spending time by oneself – is a ubiquitous psychological
experience. Though social animals, humans engage in numerous activities
in everyday life accompanied by no one else but themselves. Taking a late
bus ride home in the evening, reading a book in bed on a lazy Sunday
afternoon, even mundane things like quietly writing a to-do list on one’s
desk or spending a few extra minutes in the shower – all these are exemplars
of solitude experiences. Research using the Experience Sampling Method
(ESM), in which participants were given beeper devices and contacted at
random points during the day and asked to note their current activity and
location, has estimated that approximately 29% of human waking hours are
spent alone (Larson, 1990).
Solitude is linked to other related, but distinct, constructs. These include
isolation— the total absence of social company, and loneliness—the negative
emotional state of dissatisfaction with the quantity and quality of one’s
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9 6
social relations (Burger, 2010; Leary, Herbst & McCrary, 2003). Isolation
is an objective state, unlike solitude and loneliness, which are largely
subjective experiences. One can be isolated but feel perfectly content; at
the same time, a person can be in a crowd and still feel lonely. Solitude and
loneliness, in contrast, can be distinguished by their different affective
valences and by a cognitive feature: during solitude moments, we have little
or no expectation of higher levels of social interaction. That is, being by –
or indeed, being with – ourselves is fine and simply enough. Loneliness, on
the other hand, involves a longing to correct a discrepancy between a
person’s ideal and actual levels of social interaction (Russell, 1996).
Solitude and Psychological Well-being
While loneliness has received much research attention because of its
links with negative psychological functioning and its pervasiveness across
time and culture (Ayalon & Shiovitz-Ezra, 2010; Rokach, 2004; Russell,
1996), solitude has been relatively less explored by scholars and clinicians,
with a few exceptions. Solitude has been cited by a handful of psychologists
studying subjective well-being. The humanistic psychologist Abraham
Maslow (1970); Sumerlin & Bundrick, 1996) proposed that the capacity to
appreciate solitude was one of the defining characteristics of self-actualized
individuals. Researchers in the positive psychology tradition such as Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi (1992) have argued that solitary skills (the ability to handle
isolation and enjoy solitude), not just social skills, are important for happiness,
stress management, and flow (see also Byrnes, 1983; Delle Fave, Massimini,
& Bassi, 2011; Larson & Lee, 1996; Rubenstein & Shaver, 1982). Indeed,
solitude has been described by one clinical scholar as a “return to the self”
(Storr, 1988).
Solitude theorists have proposed a number of benefits related to time
spent alone: freedom, creativity, intimacy, and spirituality (Long & Averill,
2003). First, being by oneself may provide freedom from social constraints
in thought and action, as well as greater ability to engage in desired activities
which a person may have difficulty doing when part of a dyad or a group.
Second, spending time alone could facilitate creativity – many thinkers,
artists, and writers from Michelangelo to Kafka have taken advantage of
and advocated solitude in the production of masterpieces of creative thought
and expression. In a letter to fellow writer Marcelo H. del Pilar, the nationalist
poet and novelist José Rizal wrote, “I prefer to be buried in solitude” (Kalaw,
1930). Third, solitude could make individuals feel connections with significant
others more intensely. This ironic process is exemplified in popular music
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that suggests that when we are by ourselves, we often think of and long for
the persons we love. Finally, solitude may be associated with enhanced
spirituality. Many faith systems provide us with exemplars of individuals
who have used time alone, often in prolonged periods, to develop wisdom
and insight into the human condition, including Moses, Jesus of Nazareth,
the prophet Muhammad, and the Buddha.
Empirical research supports the idea that solitude can be beneficial.
ESM-based studies led by the developmental psychologist Reed Larson
and colleagues (Larson, 1990, 1997, 1999; Larson & Lee, 1996) have shown,
for example, that solitude experiences are indeed related to global as well
as short-term psychological adjustment. In one ESM study that followed
fifth to ninth graders for a one-week period, moderate amounts of time
spent alone were significantly linked to fewer parent-reported behavioral
problems, higher teacher-rated adjustment, lower depression scores, and
even higher grade point averages (Larson, 1997). Another study documented
lower levels of negative self-consciousness and higher levels of concentration
among teenagers during times spent by themselves, followed by a boost in
cheerfulness and alertness after two hours of solitude (Larson, 1999).
Other researchers have focused on the capacity for solitude and have
found similar positive results. In one survey comparing US college students
and unsheltered homeless adult men, individual differences in capacity for
solitude were correlated with a stronger sense of personal freedom and
higher self-acceptance (Sumerlin & Bundrick, 1996). Children who report
being able to handle time alone exhibit more task autonomy inside the
classroom and less social anxiety, compared to less able peers (Youngblade,
Berlin, & Belsky, 1999). Among adults, comfort in spending time alone is
correlated with lower sadness, fewer negative physical symptoms, and higher
life satisfaction (Larson & Lee, 1996), as well as less frequent bouts of
boredom and loneliness (Burger, 1995).
Despite these psychological benefits associated with solitude and its
appreciation, time spent alone may not be readily appreciated by many.
Even solitude researchers concede that spending time by oneself may not
strike most people, especially adolescents, as an especially appealing activity.
Following this observation combined with time alone’s theorized and
documented benefits, solitude has been described as “a bitter-tasting but
salutary medicine” (Larson, 1997, p. 90).
Since solitude is a relatively accessible experience imbued with a range
of possible benefits, how can its appreciation be deliberately developed?
One solution may be found in the psychology classroom context – or more
specifically, outside the classroom context. While direct instruction may
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work to instill knowledge of solitude and its benefits, I argue that psychology
teachers can enable students to engage time spent alone more positively
using active learning and guided experience (Davis & Buskist, 2006; see
also Eiser, Shook & Fazio, 2007, for the effects of exploration on appreciation
and attitude formation, generally). Active learning exercises, which
encourage students to experience a material in vivid, contextual ways and
process information more deeply, are effective in developing appreciation
and knowledge structures related to diverse psychological phenomena, in
this case, solitude.
In this paper, I describe the structure and empirical evaluation of an
active learning exercise from an undergraduate course in personality
psychology designed to make students directly experience and appreciate
time spent alone in an effective and enjoyable way.
ME THOD
The Assignment: The Date with the Self
During a class discussion on solitude, I assigned students an out-of-
classroom exercise – the date with the self. That is, students set aside an
afternoon or evening of at least three hours to engage in personally chosen
leisure activity entirely by themselves. I presented sample activities as
suggestions, including going to a cinema, eating at a restaurant, visiting a
park or museum, enjoying a walk in nature, etc., with the self as their
“date”. Students were instructed not to think that they were not going on
this date “alone”; rather, they would be going with a companion who is
“very special”, i.e., themselves.
In addition to this fundamental cognitive frame, I posed a number of
specific behavioral guidelines that would apply to any other type of date,
like discouraging mobile phone use and book reading. The same way that
constantly composing sms messages or burying oneself in a book during a
date would probably be inconsistent with the goals of dating as shared
pleasurable leisure time (Rose & Frieze, 1993), the date with the self required
actively engaging time alone as a purposeful event. Students were given
one week to carry out the date with the self and asked to submit a two-
page reflection paper on their experience.
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Evaluation Design
To test the efficacy of this exercise, I conducted an empirical evaluation
of the date with the self by comparing before and after scores in views
toward solitude of students who were assigned the activity, relative to a
non-equivalent comparison group of students. In this pretest-posttest quasi-
experimental design, baseline data on appreciation of time spent alone were
collected via standardized questionnaires administered at the beginning of
the semester. Parallel posttests were conducted in the class sessions
immediately after the exercise (approximately two-thirds into the semester).
Participants
Fifty-four students (ages ranging from 18 to 20) in an undergraduate
personality psychology course in a public university in Metro Manila
participated in the exercise as part of course requirements. Students assigned
to go on a date with the self were offered an alternative activity if they
preferred otherwise; none took this option. A sample of 49 university students
(ages from 18 to 20) taking introductory psychology who did not receive
the exercise served as the comparison group. Pretest data on solitude
appreciation were collected at the beginning of the semester, and posttests
were conducted immediately after the exercise, approximately twelve weeks
into the 16-week semester. Students answered the questionnaires
confidentially, and all data were sealed and analyzed only at the end of the
semester after final course marks had been handed out.
Measures
To measure appreciation for time spent alone, students answered
B u r g e r ’ s ( 1 9 9 5 ) P r e f e r e n c e f o r S o l i t u d e S c a l e ( p r e t e s t = 0.81, posttest
= 0.80). In addition, using a modified version of the Varieties of Solitude
questionnaire (Long, Seburn, Averill, & More, 2003), daters rated how nine
different meaningful aspects of solitude were applicable in their date
experience, using seven-point Likert-type scales. These nine meanings of
time spent alone, identified in the research literature using factor analysis
(Long et al., 2003), were: (1) anonymity/autonomy; (2) creativity; (3) diversion;
(4) inner peace; (5) intimacy; (6) negative affect; (7) problem-solving;
(8) self-discovery; and (9) spirituality (see Appendix). Finally, enjoyment
of the exercise was assessed using two items (“How enjoyable did you find
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this activity?” and “How likely would you engage in an activity like this in
the future?”), using seven-point Likert-type scaling, and later summed.
Responses to the two enjoyment items showed good intercorrelation,
r(52) = 0.79, p < 0.001 (= 0.86).
RESULTS
Gains in Solitude Appreciation
Students in the daters group reported baseline attitude levels not
s i g n i f i c a n t l y d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e c o m p a r i s o n g r o u p ( d a t e r s M= 5.56,
SD = 3.11, vs. comparison M= 4.94, SD = 3.11). At the beginning of the
semester, the two groups were comparable in attitudes toward time spent
alone, t(101) = 1.01, p> .1.
After the activity, students from the daters group reported increased
positive attitudes toward solitude (mean difference = +1.17, SD = 2.14).
These gain scores were higher than those of students in the comparison
group (mean difference = +0.14, SD = 2.00). As recommended by Dimitrov
& Runrill (2003) for nonrandomized control-group designs, an analysis of
covariance with pretest scores as a covariate was conducted. The difference
in posttest scores for the two groups was significant, F(1,100) = 9.44,
p < .01. Going out on the date with the self had a positive impact on solitude
appreciation (see Figure 1), and this increased appreciation was significant
even when controlling for prior attitudes toward time spent alone.
Figure 1. Changes in appreciation of solitude among daters versus
comparison group before and after the activity.
MAN ALA STAS 101
To explore factors that could account for the increase in solitude
appreciation, an internal analysis using stepwise multiple regression was
conducted on the daters subsample. Results suggested that a sense of
anonymity/autonomy (B = 0.56, t = 3.74, p < 0.001) and low levels of negative
affect (B = -0.35, t = -2.63, p < 0.01) predicted increased solitude
appreciation, F(2,51) = 13.00, p < .001, R = 0.58, adjusted R2 = 0.31. That
is, the individual freedom experienced during the time alone activity, along
with low levels of negative emotion, contributed to the experience’s impact
on solitude appreciation.
Enjoyment of the Date With The Self
In addition to improving attitudes toward time spent alone, the date
with the self also proved to be highly enjoyable (M = 11.47, SD = 2.53, on a
2-to-14 scale, with higher scores indicating higher enjoyment). Another
regression analysis indicated that three factors contributed to enjoyment:
feelings of calmness and serenity (B = 0.42, t = 3.85, p < .001), low levels
of negative affect (B = -0.37, t = -3.30, p < .01), and baseline attitudes
toward time spent alone (B = 0.23, t = 2.37, p < .05). This model accounted
for a moderate amount of variance, R = 0.74, adjusted R2 = 0.51, F(3,50)
= 19.56, p < .001. A main contributor to the enjoyableness of the exercise
was the calmness and serenity it provided; on the other hand, negative
feelings about being alone made the exercise less enjoyable. Finally, as
expected, prior individual differences in preference for time spent alone
predicted overall enjoyment of the date with the self.
DISCUSSION
Unlike its distressing sibling loneliness, solitude can be a positive
psychological experience. Solitude can be a context for self-renewal (Storr,
1988) and a tool for the pursuit of creativity and insight, as one basks in the
freedom and serenity it can offer. The capacity to handle and enjoy solitude
is also linked to psychological adjustment, including less depression, greater
sense of personal agency, and higher life satisfaction. This appreciation of
time spent alone can be developed using an active learning exercise such
as the date with the self, in which individuals mindfully engage in a personally
chosen leisure activity, with themselves as companions. Empirical assessment
of the activity indicated that it serves as an effective and enjoyable exercise
in spending time alone.
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Aside from the exercise allowing personal fun and reflection during a
point in the semester when academic workloads were increasing, informal
accounts from students suggested that a salient aspect of the activity was
the construction of the time spent alone as a “date”. Since dating is socially
scripted as purposeful, interpersonal leisure time (Rose & Frieze, 1993), by
activating this cognitive frame, students may have had the opportunity to
rethink the meaning and value of time spent alone. Because dating is social,
the purposeful companionship with oneself was emphasized. This is reflected
in the explicit framing in the instructions for the activity: the exercise is not
about time spent without others, but about time spent with oneself. Such
a cognitive reappraisal of time spent alone can be a strategy not only to
enable individuals to deal with the solitude that is inevitable in modern life
(toward gaining “solitary skills”; Csikszentmihalyi, 1992), but to develop
more positive attitudes about being alone – that indeed, solitude can be
enjoyable and not an essentially lonely, negative experience.
In addition to cognitive reframing, another factor that may contribute to the
impact of the date with the self is the mindful planning required by the exercise.
Students had to make time in their schedules for the activity and decide on their
own what leisure activities to pursue – in other words, the date was a concrete
instance of “active solitude” (Rubenstein & Shaver, 1982). As argued by positive
psychologists, this process of planning, without the social constraints usually
present in negotiating a date with another person (Rose & Frieze, 1993), can
increase the likelihood of a positive experience and offer a sense of personal
control over that pleasure (Bryant & Veroff, 2007).
Caveats and Conclusions
Interventions for addressing loneliness often rely on cognitive strategies
or behavioral training to improve social skills (McWhirter & Joran, 1996).
In this paper, I presented a simple out-of-classroom intervention that relies
on a cognitive strategy enacted in behavioral terms, one that focuses not on
alleviating loneliness, but on enhancing the positive experience of time spent
alone. Such “positive interventions” (Sin & Lyubormisky, 2009) may not
necessarily fix or remedy something deficient in the traditional clinical sense,
but may be useful as an adjunct to strategies for preventing loneliness – an
empirical question worth pursuing in future research. Also, the current
intervention was evaluated using a quasi-experimental design with a small,
university-based sample; further work on solitude and loneliness, using more
rigorous experimental designs with more diverse samples, can provide further
MAN ALA STAS 103
insight on how solitude-based strategies can complement established
loneliness-focused interventions in promoting well-being. Finally, cultural
factors related to solitude need further study, given how culture structures
notions of autonomy, connectedness, and their relationship with well-being
(Larson, 1999; Lehman, Chiu & Schaller, 2004). Perhaps individualistic
cultures place higher value on the thrill of freedom from social constraints
brought about by solitude, while collectivist cultures, especially those
influenced by Buddhist thought, may idealize the calmness and serenity it
can bring (e.g., Tsai, Knutson & Fung, 2006). Indigenous meanings ascribed
to time alone can also point to culture-sensitive interventions for promoting
its appreciation (e.g., isolation in nature for Nordic cultures, based on the
Finnish concept of hiljaisuus, “solitude in one’s thoughts” (Carbaugh, Berry
& Nurmikari-Berry, 2006).
Time spent alone can be purposeful and enjoyable. Loneliness may be
a persistent, complex problem that demands psychological analysis and
intervention, but solitude is a positive experience also worth studying,
savoring, and promoting.
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AUTHOR NOTE
Eric Julian Manalastas, Department of Psychology, University of the
Philippines Diliman. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 43rd
Annual Convention of the Psychological Association of the Philippines. Thanks
go to Rae Macapagal for assistance in data collection and to Pam Marek and Baby
Marquez for feedback and encouragement on the manuscript. Correspondence
concerning this article should be addressed to Eric Manalastas, Department of
Psychology, Palma Hall Annex, UP Diliman, Quezon City 1101. Ema il:
eric_julian.manalastas@up.edu.ph
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APPENDIX: FEATURES OF SOLITUDE
(ADAPTED FROM LONG ET AL., 2003)
1. Solitude as Anonymity. Because you were alone, you may have acted
in whatever ways you felt like at the moment, without concern for social
niceties of what others might think.
2. Solitude as Creativity. Being alone stimulated novel ideas or innovative
ways of expressing yourself, whether actually in art, poetry, or intellectual
pursuits, or whimsically in daydreaming with a purpose.
3. Solitude as Diversion. You filled the time alone by watching television,
surfing the Internet, or engaging in other distracting activities.
4. Solitude as Inner Peace. While alone, you felt calm and relaxed, free
from the pressures of everyday life.
5. Solitude as Intimacy. Although alone, you felt especially close to someone
you care about, e.g., an absent friend or lover, or perhaps a deceased
relative (such as a beloved grandparent); the absence of the person only
strengthens your feeling of closeness.
6. Solitude as Loneliness. You felt self-conscious, anxious, or depressed;
you longed for interpersonal contact.
7. Solitude as Problem-Solving. Aloneness provided the opportunity to
think about specific problems or decisions you are facing, and you
attempted to come to some resolution.
8. Solitude as Self-Discovery. By focusing attention on yourself, you gained
insight into your fundamental values and goals and you came to realize
your unique strengths and weaknesses.
9. Solitude as Spirituality. While alone, you may have had a mystic-like
experience, e.g., a sense of transcending everyday concerns, of being a
part of something grander than yourself; such experiences are sometimes
interpreted within a religious context (e.g., being closer to God) but they
can also be entirely secular (e.g., as in being in harmony with a social or
natural order).
