Co, Jean Carol M.

IV – 8 BSE Values Education

Reporter #3: The Belongingness Hypothesis

Activity:

Direction:

The class will be forming groups according to the following that they want to be with:

1. Group yourselves where you want to be with while going to:

a. Eat

b. To be with someone in salon and have a haircut

c. Study in the library

d. Academic work group

e. Attend church

f. Sleep

g. Stranded in an island

h. Sharing your love life

Processing Question:

1. What did you consider in choosing your group mates? Why?

2. What do you feel that you are accepted from the group?

3. What did you do that you are rejected from the group?

4. When do you feel that your belong?

Objectives:

At the end of the discussion the students are expected to:

1. Identify the concepts of belongingness hypothesis;

2. find pleasure in self-esteem;

3. display belongingness in others.

References:

1. Belongingness - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belongingness

2. The Belongingness Theory - http://psych-it.wikifoundry.com/page/Belongingness+theory

3. The “Need to Belong” - Part of What Makes Us Human - http://www.scienceofrelationships.com/home/2012/4/16/the-need-to-belong-part-of-what-makes-us-human.html

4. Maslow's hierarchy of needs - http://www.Abraham%20Maslow's%20Hierarchy%20of%20Needs%20and%20diagrams%20of%20Maslow's%20motivational%20theory%20-%20pyramid%20diagrams%20of%20Maslow's%20theory.html

Abstraction:

The Belongingness Hypothesis

Belongingness is the human emotional need to be an accepted member of a group. Whether it is family, friends, co-workers, or a sports team, humans have an inherent desire to belong and be an important part of something greater than themselves. This implies a relationship that is greater than simple acquaintance or familiarity. The need to belong is the need to give and receive affection from others.

Psychological needs

Abraham Maslow suggested that the need to belong was a major source of human motivation. He thought that it was one of 5 human needs in his hierarchy of needs, along with physiological needs, safety, self-esteem, and self-actualization. These needs are arranged on a hierarchy and must be satisfied in order. After physiological and safety needs are met an individual can then work on meeting the need to belong and be loved. According to Maslow, if the first two needs are not met, then an individual cannot completely love someone else.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

1. Biological and Physiological needs

2. Safety needs

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs

5. Self-Actualization needs

Belongingness Theory

According to Baumeister and Leary’s (1995) belonginess theory, individuals have an evolved, and robust, need for closeness, and social belonging. This theory suggests that natural selection favoured individuals who maintained close bonds with groups because this attachment provided security, and facilitated reproduction. Individuals, thus, who are ostracised experience intense psychological distress (Sommer, Williams, Ciarroco & Baumeister, 2001; Williams, Shore, & Grahe, 1998). These unpleasant emotions motivate the individual to repair the faulty relationships or encourage them to develop new, more rewarding relationships.

Self-esteem, according to the sociometer hypothesis (Leary, Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995), provides individuals with a psychological mechanism to gauge their level of social acceptance. For instance, when individuals receive adverse feedback regarding their interpersonal skills, they report a decline in self-esteem (Leary, Haupt, Strausser, & Chokel, 1998).

The “Need to Belong” - Part of What Makes Us Human

According to a landmark paper by psychologists Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary it’s because of a fundamental “need to belong.” The “belongingness hypothesis” states that people have a basic psychological need to feel closely connected to others, and that caring, affectionate bonds from close relationships are a major part of human behavior.

Here is an overview of the evidence for this hypothesis, point by point:

1. Forming social bonds – People readily form relationships with others without being paid or forced to do so, and do so even under adverse circumstances.

2. Not breaking bonds – People are eager to have close relationships and are reluctant to break them once formed, even when the relationship is marked by distress, conflict, or even abuse.

3. Cognition – When we feel close to others, our thoughts change such that a cognitive “merging” effect occurs; people begin to include aspects of their relationship partner in their own self-concept.

4. Emotional highs and lows – No matter how you slice it, relationships carry immense emotional weight. People feel a great deal of positive emotion (e.g., joy, bliss, love), especially during the early stages of relationships.

5. Consequences of deprivation – When people lack meaningful close relationships with others, they suffer.

6. Partial deprivation – Even within highly

satisfying relationships, being separated

from a loved one (or having restricted

interactions) produces distress and

sadness.

7. Satiation and substitution – There is such a thing as too many close relationships. People strongly prefer to have (and are only capable of having) a few very close friendships and a larger number of casual friendships.

8. Innateness, universality, and evolutionary perspectives – People throughout the world are born with the ability and motivation to form close relationships, and this universal tendency is adaptive.

In words of the Baumeister and Leary, “it seems fair to conclude that human beings are fundamentally and pervasively motivated by a need to belong, that is, by a strong desire to form and maintain enduring interpersonal attachments.”

Graphic Organizer: