Asociality

Not to be confused with Anti-social behavior or Antisocial personality disorder.

Asociality refers to the lack of motivation to engage in social interaction, or a preference for solitary activities. Asociality may be associated with avolition, but it can, moreover, be a manifestation of limited opportunities for social relationships.[1] Developmental psychologists use the synonyms nonsocial, unsocial, and social uninterest. Asociality is distinct from, but not mutually exclusive to, anti-social behavior. A degree of asociality is routinely observed in introverts, while extreme asociality is observed in people with a variety of clinical conditions.

Asociality is not necessarily perceived as a totally negative trait by society, since asociality has been used as a way to express dissent from prevailing ideas. It is seen as a desirable trait in several mystical and monastic traditions, notably in Hinduism, Jainism, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Buddhism[2][3][4][5][6] and Sufism.[7]

  1. ^ American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association. p. 88. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.988.5627. doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596. ISBN 978-0-8904-2554-1.
  2. ^ Chrysostomos, Bishop; Akakios, Archimandrite (November 1991). "The old calendarists: A social psychological profile of a Greek Orthodox minority". Pastoral Psychology. 40 (2): 83–91. doi:10.1007/BF01040490. ISSN 0031-2789. S2CID 144654988.
  3. ^ Eisenstadt, S. N.; Shulman, D.; Kahane, R., eds. (1984). Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy and Dissent in India. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110852561. ISBN 978-3-1100-9659-0.
  4. ^ Michelson, Patrick Lally (2017). Beyond the monastery walls: the ascetic revolution in Russian Orthodox thought, 1814–1914. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-2747-2870-1.
  5. ^ Silber, Ilana Friedrich (December 1981). "Dissent through Holiness: The Case of the Radical Renouncer in Theravada Buddhist Countries". Numen. 28 (2): 164–193. doi:10.2307/3270017. JSTOR 3270017.
  6. ^ Luehrmann, Sonja (2018). Praying with the Senses : Contemporary Eastern Orthodox Spirituality in Practice. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-03167-9. OCLC 1013820687.
  7. ^ Akaev, V.Kh.; Abdulaeva, Z.E. (2020). "Saving the Ethnocultural Heritage of the Peoples of the North Caucasus as an Alternative to Asocial Manifestations". Science Almanac of Black Sea Region Countries. 22 (2): 50–58. doi:10.23947/2414-1143-2020-22-2-50-58. ISSN 2414-1143. S2CID 226588791.