Uziel and Tomer Schmidt-Barad investigated how the decisions to be alone and to be with others influence wellbeing and their findings confirm the important effects of control on wellbeing. The research duo report that “Stable social relationships are conducive to well-being. . . . The present investigation suggests that . . . social interactions increase ESWB [experiential subjective well-being] only if taken place by one’s choice. Moreover, it is argued that choice matters more in a social context than in an alone context because experiences with others are amplified. These ideas were tested and supported in two studies: An experiment that manipulated social context and choice status, and a 10-day experience-sampling study, which explored these variables in real-life settings. Results showed that being with others by one’s choice had the strongest positive association with ESWB, sense of meaning, and control, whereas being with others not by one’s choice—the strongest negative association with ESWB.”
Liad Uziel and Tomer Schmidt-Barad. 2022. “Choice Matters More with Others: Choosing to Be With Other People is More Consequential to Well-Being Than Choosing to Be Alone.” Journal of Happiness Studies, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-022-00506-5
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.