Communication behaviors that facilitate detection of loneliness  

New Series, Vol. 2, No. 18

Research has shown that loneliness is associated with numerous physical and psychological concerns, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, substance use and abuse (including alcohol abuse and alcoholism), and immunocompetence limitations. Loneliness is also associated with social skills deficiencies. Lonely persons and those around them also are perceived as having less communication competence than non-lonely people. Loneliness affects how the lonely perceive others, up to perceiving all of their relationships as being negative. 

Loneliness is distinguished from aloneness (social isolation) because aloneness does not always induce loneliness and people can feel lonely even if they are not alone. Loneliness affects people of all ages, but it is most common among adolescents and young adults and also among older adults. For all of these reasons and others, loneliness is an important issue for social scientists and scientists to study. 

Psychology researchers John T. and Stephanie Cacioppo developed the evolutionary theory of loneliness, which holds that close relationships are necessary for health and wellness, and that loneliness has a social signaling function. It has since been shown that humans have an adaptive, genetically based predisposition to feel lonely when they perceive that the quality and quantity of their relationships are lacking. Based on this, this Floyd et al. article sought to answer the research question: Which communication behaviors among lonely individuals facilitate the detection of loneliness?  

Loneliness is an internal trait of feelings and perceptions, but they are not entirely unobservable. In fact, in controlled studies, self-reported loneliness has been observed by close others, such as romantic partners, parents, and friends, roughly one-third to two-thirds of the time. External signs of loneliness include nonverbal and verbal “safety behaviors,” such as motivation to avoid others, heightened sensitivity to threatening social cues (such as watching for fear or sadness in others), speaking softly or remaining silent, holding still, avoiding eye contact, speaking in short sentences, and hiding one’s face—all considered maladaptive in the long run. Specific methods of limiting exposure to others are curtailed gazes, heightened speech rates, and lowered vocal amplitude. Verbal behavior that may signal a preoccupation with relational needs includes increased references to relationships or heightened use of personal pronouns. 

The authors hypothesized that speakers’ reports of loneliness are associated with observers’ perceptions of loneliness; the effect of speakers’ loneliness on observers’ perceptions of loneliness are brought about by the speakers’ gaze or speakers’ speech rates or speakers’ vocal amplitude or speakers’ use of relational terms or speakers’ use of personal pronouns. These independent variables were analyzed separately. 

In the research, 653 undergraduates (ages 18 to 37; M =19.98 years) were prescreened for loneliness using the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. (Black/African-Americans were somewhat overrepresented and Asians/Pacific Islanders were somewhat underrepresented compared with the US population; the students had limited diversity by age, geography, and educational achievement). Using results of the UCLA scale, 12 each of the most lonely male and female students and 12 each of the least lonely male and female students (total N = 48) were randomly selected as speakers who would be asked to record a personal video advertisement to find a friend. (The 24 students each in the most lonely and least lonely groups did not differ by demographics, and loneliness did not differ by gender or by age.) Forty-eight Mechanical Turk “masters” (hereafter referred to as “participants”) were recruited and each randomly assigned to one personal ad video. After viewing the video, each participant was asked their perceptions of the speaker’s loneliness and they were later asked about their own loneliness using the UCLA Scale. Participants assessed speakers’ loneliness using the criteria: “this person is withdrawn and lacking companionship,” “this person is lonely,” ”this person is without close friends,” and “this person is isolated from others,” which were distributed among statements not of interest to the researchers. Speakers’ gaze was assessed using trained coders. Speakers’ speaking rate was measured simply in words per minute. Speakers’ vocal amplitude was measured in weighted decibels. Speakers’ uses of relational words and uses of personal pronouns were calculated by Pennebaker’s Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count as a percentage of all words used. 

Results showed that male speakers were perceived as lonelier than female speakers; participants’ own gender had no effect on this. Speakers’ ages were not correlated with loneliness perceptions, but participants’ ages were (older participants were more likely to perceive loneliness). Participants’ own loneliness was correlated with their perceptions of speakers’ loneliness, so the first hypothesis was supported. 

Higher speaking rate, use of relational terms, and use of personal pronouns by the speakers were also correlated with participants’ perceptions of loneliness, so three other hypotheses were supported. Hypotheses about speakers’ gaze and vocal amplitude were not supported. The authors wondered if public speaking training (which teaches keeping eye contact) of so many speakers, and if the researchers’ inability to hold constant the videos’ volume, may have affected results. 

Overall, there was only a partial correlation (.17) between loneliness and perceptions of it, indicating that the evolution-related social signals of loneliness tested in this study are weak and that correct perceptions of loneliness are only slightly better than chance. 

Communication Currents Discussion Questions 

For additional suggestions about how to use this and other Communication Currents in the classroom, see: https://www.natcom.org/publications/communication-currents/integrating-communication-currents-classroom 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS  

Kory Floyd is a professor and department chair in human development at Washington State University. 

Nicole Zenzola is a graduate teaching associate and doctoral student, Shelby N. Carter is a graduate teaching associate and doctoral student, Anna Marcucci is a graduate student, and Yuan Zhao is a doctoral student, all in the Department of Communication, University of Arizona. 

Nathan T. Woo is an assistant professor of communication studies, at California State University, Sacramento. 

Benjamin E. Custer is an assistant professor of psychology, at American University in Bulgaria. 

Dana R. Dinsmore is an instructor of communication at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. 

Kaylin L. Duncan is an assistant professor of communication studies, at University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. 

Jeannette Mare is director of the Science of Kindness Community Collective, at Banner University Medical Center. 

This essay, by Dane S. Claussen, translates the scholarly journal article, Floyd, K., Zenzola, N., Carter, S. N., Marcucci, A., Zhao, Y, Woo, N. T., Custer, B. E., Dinsmore, D. R., Duncan, K. L., & Mare, J. (2025). Communication behaviors that facilitate detection of loneliness. Communication Monographs, https://www.doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2025.2535974. Advance online publication. 

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