8.b Connotations of Loneliness: Loneliness is generally defined as a negative emotional response to the experience of a discrepancy between people's desired social relations and their actual social relations (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). The connotations of loneliness can be examined by dividing them into the domains of cognition, emotion and behavior. The cognitive aspect refers to the interpretation of self and self-other relationships. Long-term studies have also indicated that low self-esteem is closely associated with loneliness. Using factor analysis, Rubenstein and Shaver (1982) similarly reported that one element among the loneliness connotations was self-depreciation, e.g., when an individual finds him or herself unattractive, humbled,
