Existential Isolation in the Dominican Republic

Presenter's Name(s)

Mariel MorelFollow

Conference Year

January 2020

Abstract

Existential isolation is a relatively new concept in psychological science that focuses on feelings of isolation stemming from the fact that no one can truly know for certain what another person experiences firsthand. The study I propose will extend cross-cultural work on existential isolation. Data will be collected in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where a collectivistic culture dominates. In South Korea, research on collectivism and existential isolation yielded a negative correlation: the more people embrace collectivism, the less they feel existentially isolated. I will examine whether this same correlation emerges in a sample collected from the Dominican Republic. In addition, I will compare existential isolation levels in the Dominican Republic to existential isolation levels in the United States and South Korea. Finally, I will examine whether individual differences in emotional expressivity explain the correlation between existential isolation and collectivism in the Dominican Republic

Primary Faculty Mentor Name

Dr. Elizabeth Pinel

Graduate Student Mentors

Young Chin Park

Faculty/Staff Collaborators

Dr. Elizabeth Pinel (Collaborating Mentor), YoungChin Park (Graduate Student Mentor)

Status

Undergraduate

Student College

College of Arts and Sciences

Second Student College

Patrick Leahy Honors College

Program/Major

Psychological Science

Primary Research Category

Social Sciences

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Existential Isolation in the Dominican Republic

Existential isolation is a relatively new concept in psychological science that focuses on feelings of isolation stemming from the fact that no one can truly know for certain what another person experiences firsthand. The study I propose will extend cross-cultural work on existential isolation. Data will be collected in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where a collectivistic culture dominates. In South Korea, research on collectivism and existential isolation yielded a negative correlation: the more people embrace collectivism, the less they feel existentially isolated. I will examine whether this same correlation emerges in a sample collected from the Dominican Republic. In addition, I will compare existential isolation levels in the Dominican Republic to existential isolation levels in the United States and South Korea. Finally, I will examine whether individual differences in emotional expressivity explain the correlation between existential isolation and collectivism in the Dominican Republic