Sociotropy: What It Is And Characteristics Of This Type Of Personality
Each human being is unique and unrepeatable, but there are some guidelines that allow us to group different personalities.
Sociotropy is one of them Below we will discover what this concept consists of, what psychological implications are behind it and what it is related to. We will also delve into different studies carried out to understand this phenomenon.
Sociotropy could be defined as a personality pattern in which there is one quality that stands out above the rest. This is none other than an obvious propensity to dedicate most of one’s time and resources to relationships with peers to the point that such behavior stops being natural and becomes pathological Behind this behavior would be hidden an extreme need to achieve the acceptance of others.
Those individuals who fit into the framework of sociotropy usually show behaviors of excessive affection towards other people with whom they do not actually have such a close relationship for this behavior to be socially appropriate. Therefore, this would be a good indicator to consider whether said subject would be suffering from this condition.
According to some studies, it has been proven that there is a gender difference in the prevalence of sociotropy. In that sense, the data seem to show that Women are more likely to experience this condition than men Furthermore, it has been proven that this condition also affects the subject’s self-control.
Therefore, when a person is sociotropic, they tend to manage their behaviors under the premise of external approval and not their own control, which is why they could carry out excessive behaviors if they believe they are pleasing their peers, since this factor will have much more weight for her than the possible personal consequences of said acts.
Likewise, it has also been proven that sociotropy It could be related to traumas experienced in the past by the individual who suffers it, and also to interpersonal stress situations, that is, the one that has to do with relationships with other individuals. All of these factors can influence the possibility of the person developing depression in the future, as we will see below.
If we considered sociotropy as the end of a scale, on the other side of said axis we could place the autonomy of the subject. Therefore, sociotropy would be the total absence of autonomy in a person In fact, the iconic psychiatrist, Aaron Temkin Beck, proposed the so-called sociotropy-autonomy scale, known as SAS.
Beck developed this tool since he considered that both extremes could correlate with depression. In that sense, both excessive social dependence, which would be sociotropy, and the search for total independence, which would be autonomy taken to the extreme, can be pathological indicators that, according to Beck, would have a relationship with the disorder of depression.
To create the SAS test, a psychometric study was conducted that ultimately provided three different factors to measure sociotropy. The first of them would have to do with the concern generated in the subject by the fact of not being socially approved which includes elements such as social pressure to fit into certain roles.
The second would refer to the concern that arises in this person for wanting to get closer socially to others keeping in mind that there is always a degree of uncertainty about how he will react.
Finally, we would find a desire to constantly please other people which would be the third factor of the SAS to measure sociotropy.
Likewise, to measure autonomy, that is, the other extreme, three factors were also obtained that the questionnaire items would measure. The first of all would estimate what the person’s performance would be like autonomously, without the need for external help.
The next one would correspond to degree to which this subject moves away from the control of other individuals s. Finally, the factor with which the SAS would be completed would be the one that would measure the person’s desire to be alone instead of being accompanied. These are the six factors, three that measure sociotropy and three that measure autonomy, that would complete this scale.
Over the years, This tool has been evolving Today, there are only two factors that would be measuring sociotropy. The first of them corresponds to the feeling of need, and is also the factor that would correlate with depressive symptoms. The second is connectivity, referring to the assessment that the person makes of their relationship with others.
Relationship of sociotropy with depression
We have already anticipated that authors like Beck discovered the relationship that sociotropy had with other pathologies, especially with depression. In that sense, the data seem to indicate that sociotropy would be a personality pattern with which, statistically speaking, the subject would have a greater probability of suffering from depression in the future provided the conditions for it were met.
Does this mean that all people who fall under sociotropy will suffer from depression at some point in their lives? No. What these studies affirm is that these people have a greater probability of suffering from this disease than those who are not in the sociotropy group.
The next thing we could ask ourselves is why this greater probability of having depression is due. Researchers have hypothesized that Sociotropic people maintain their self-esteem in relationships with other individuals, hence they need that constant approval from their peers. The point is that, when these people experience the breakdown of a social relationship, what they are automatically damaging by extension is their own self-esteem.
This causes people with sociotropy to experience a much deeper sense of loss than a more autonomous person, when they see a relationship with another individual disappear. This experience of loss and abandonment will fully affect the subject’s self-esteem and will cause the increase in the probability of suffering from depression that we saw before.
Research on sociotropy
According to the psychological research that has been carried out, some authors place the origin of sociotropy in a combination of introverted personality traits combined with limited assertiveness capabilities What this causes is that the person in question directs his behavior to satisfy others. He prefers it before generating a hypothetical situation that would involve abandoning him.
Logically, another important factor when generating sociotropy is the person’s shy traits In fact, such important characteristics of sociotropic individuals as the fear of being rejected by other subjects or a dependence on relationships with others, largely come from this trait.
Research conducted with Beck’s SAS scale revealed an issue to consider. When we are studying subjects who, in addition to being included in sociotropy, are also doing so in shyness, we find the paradox that these people would be having a deep internal conflict, since a part of them pushes them to get closer to others and establish relationships. while another promotes just the opposite.
These people, Their shyness makes them have problems relating to others, but sociotropy, at the same time, forces them to do so, since they need social approval. It is, therefore, a particularly exhausting situation, since they are constantly falling into an internal struggle that directs their behavior and in which there is always a party that does not agree with their choice.
In these cases, it seems that the conclusions reached in the studies carried out pointed to the possibility that sociotropy also had an important role as a predictor of negative symptoms that have to do with situations in which the person requires the use of assertiveness or he has to start conversations with other subjects, since these are events in which these two parts of his personality collide.
There have also been studies in which sociotropy seems to predict a high level of anxiety in the person. It stands to reason that a person who dedicates a large amount of resources to trying to make their interpersonal relationships satisfactory for others will tend to experience great anxiety due to this entire process.
Indeed, these studies showed a positive correlation between anxiety and sociotropy in a variety of social situations that is, in which both that individual and another and the relationships between them are involved.
