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Poster Session B: Wednesday, August 13, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Social responsiveness buffers internalizing symptoms from social isolation

Shuhan Wang¹, Cong Wang¹, John M. Wang, Jacob Lee, Nanda Sankarasubramanian, Ethan Nichols², Abigale Collins, Brooks Casas, Pearl H. Chiu; ¹Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, ²Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Presenter: Shuhan Wang

Social isolation is related to internalizing symptoms, but individual differences exist in the susceptibility to the negative effect of social isolation. Little is known about the factors contributing to such variable outcomes brought on by social isolation. One possibility is that social responsiveness (i.e., adaptability of social behavior) may modulate the relationship between social isolation and internalizing symptoms. In this study, participants played an iterative trust game, where they learned the trustworthiness of social others. Social responsiveness is quantified as responsive investments to others’ trustworthiness by computational modeling. We found that social responsiveness attenuated the effect of social isolation on internalizing symptoms, which suggests that social responsiveness is a protective factor against negative outcomes from social isolation.

Topic Area: Reward, Value & Social Decision Making

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