{"id":{"repo_id":"udel","oai_identifier":"oai:udspace.udel.edu:19716/30015"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/udel/oai:udspace.udel.edu:19716/30015","repository":{"repo_id":"udel","name":"University of Delaware","base_url":"https://udspace.udel.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Playing alone, feeling connected: do single-player video games with social surrogates replenish belonging after social rejection","abstract":"People have a fundamental need to belong—to be accepted, loved, and cared for. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened people’s sense of belonging; people had to isolate themselves from others due to the stay-at-home orders. At the same time in early 2020, people started to spend more time playing video games; sales and consumption of video games skyrocketed, breaking previous records worldwide. Existing theoretical perspectives suggest one possible reason for this popularity: video games, including single-player video games, may help people feel socially connected. For example, according to the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, solo gameplay is a disengaged prosocial response, an attempt to replenish belonging in a hands-off, indirect manner. Also, according to the social surrogacy hypothesis, solo gameplay can provide social surrogates, symbolic bonds that can replenish belonging. Players can form parasocial relationships (one-way psychological bonds) with a non-player character in the game; players can also immerse themselves in the social worlds and feel like a member of a collective presented in the video game. Although existing theories and qualitative evidence suggest that solo gameplay can benefit belonging, quantitative evidence is lacking to support this prediction. In this dissertation, I examined if solo gameplay could replenish belonging after social rejection. In Study 1, I validated the Heart Manikin—a single-item measure of state belonging, which I used in the subsequent studies. In Study 2, rejected participants recalled their time playing a video game with vs. without social surrogates. In Study 3, rejected participants played a custom video game that manipulates parasocial relationships and social worlds. Across studies, I found that rejected participants reported similar levels of belonging after being exposed to social surrogates in video games. The results move forward the discourse on the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, the social surrogacy hypothesis, and the video games literature.","abstract_html":"People have a fundamental need to belong—to be accepted, loved, and cared for. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened people’s sense of belonging; people had to isolate themselves from others due to the stay-at-home orders. At the same time in early 2020, people started to spend more time playing video games; sales and consumption of video games skyrocketed, breaking previous records worldwide. Existing theoretical perspectives suggest one possible reason for this popularity: video games, including single-player video games, may help people feel socially connected. For example, according to the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, solo gameplay is a disengaged prosocial response, an attempt to replenish belonging in a hands-off, indirect manner. Also, according to the social surrogacy hypothesis, solo gameplay can provide social surrogates, symbolic bonds that can replenish belonging. Players can form parasocial relationships (one-way psychological bonds) with a non-player character in the game; players can also immerse themselves in the social worlds and feel like a member of a collective presented in the video game. Although existing theories and qualitative evidence suggest that solo gameplay can benefit belonging, quantitative evidence is lacking to support this prediction. In this dissertation, I examined if solo gameplay could replenish belonging after social rejection. In Study 1, I validated the Heart Manikin—a single-item measure of state belonging, which I used in the subsequent studies. In Study 2, rejected participants recalled their time playing a video game with vs. without social surrogates. In Study 3, rejected participants played a custom video game that manipulates parasocial relationships and social worlds. Across studies, I found that rejected participants reported similar levels of belonging after being exposed to social surrogates in video games. The results move forward the discourse on the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, the social surrogacy hypothesis, and the video games literature.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sunami, Naoyuki"],"institution":"University of Delaware","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021","date_published":"2021","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:11:22Z","subjects":["Parasocial contact","Parasocial relationships","Relatedness need","Social rejection","Social surrogacy","Video game"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.58088/87j0-ap63"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.58088/87j0-ap63","href":"https://doi.org/10.58088/87j0-ap63","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/30015","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sunami, Naoyuki"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2022-01-18T14:22:40Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-01-18T14:22:40Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Delaware"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Parasocial contact","Parasocial relationships","Relatedness need","Social rejection","Social surrogacy","Video game"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.58088/87j0-ap63"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/30015"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["People have a fundamental need to belong—to be accepted, loved, and cared for. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened people’s sense of belonging; people had to isolate themselves from others due to the stay-at-home orders. At the same time in early 2020, people started to spend more time playing video games; sales and consumption of video games skyrocketed, breaking previous records worldwide. Existing theoretical perspectives suggest one possible reason for this popularity: video games, including single-player video games, may help people feel socially connected. For example, according to the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, solo gameplay is a disengaged prosocial response, an attempt to replenish belonging in a hands-off, indirect manner. Also, according to the social surrogacy hypothesis, solo gameplay can provide social surrogates, symbolic bonds that can replenish belonging. Players can form parasocial relationships (one-way psychological bonds) with a non-player character in the game; players can also immerse themselves in the social worlds and feel like a member of a collective presented in the video game. Although existing theories and qualitative evidence suggest that solo gameplay can benefit belonging, quantitative evidence is lacking to support this prediction. In this dissertation, I examined if solo gameplay could replenish belonging after social rejection. In Study 1, I validated the Heart Manikin—a single-item measure of state belonging, which I used in the subsequent studies. In Study 2, rejected participants recalled their time playing a video game with vs. without social surrogates. In Study 3, rejected participants played a custom video game that manipulates parasocial relationships and social worlds. Across studies, I found that rejected participants reported similar levels of belonging after being exposed to social surrogates in video games. The results move forward the discourse on the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, the social surrogacy hypothesis, and the video games literature."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Playing alone, feeling connected: do single-player video games with social surrogates replenish belonging after social rejection"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Sunami, Naoyuki"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2022-01-18T14:22:40Z"],"dc:date.available":["2022-01-18T14:22:40Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021"],"dc:description.abstract":["People have a fundamental need to belong—to be accepted, loved, and cared for. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened people’s sense of belonging; people had to isolate themselves from others due to the stay-at-home orders. At the same time in early 2020, people started to spend more time playing video games; sales and consumption of video games skyrocketed, breaking previous records worldwide. Existing theoretical perspectives suggest one possible reason for this popularity: video games, including single-player video games, may help people feel socially connected. For example, according to the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, solo gameplay is a disengaged prosocial response, an attempt to replenish belonging in a hands-off, indirect manner. Also, according to the social surrogacy hypothesis, solo gameplay can provide social surrogates, symbolic bonds that can replenish belonging. Players can form parasocial relationships (one-way psychological bonds) with a non-player character in the game; players can also immerse themselves in the social worlds and feel like a member of a collective presented in the video game. Although existing theories and qualitative evidence suggest that solo gameplay can benefit belonging, quantitative evidence is lacking to support this prediction. In this dissertation, I examined if solo gameplay could replenish belonging after social rejection. In Study 1, I validated the Heart Manikin—a single-item measure of state belonging, which I used in the subsequent studies. In Study 2, rejected participants recalled their time playing a video game with vs. without social surrogates. In Study 3, rejected participants played a custom video game that manipulates parasocial relationships and social worlds. Across studies, I found that rejected participants reported similar levels of belonging after being exposed to social surrogates in video games. The results move forward the discourse on the bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy, the social surrogacy hypothesis, and the video games literature."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.58088/87j0-ap63"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/30015"],"dc:publisher":["University of Delaware"],"dc:subject":["Parasocial contact","Parasocial relationships","Relatedness need","Social rejection","Social surrogacy","Video game"],"dc:title":["Playing alone, feeling connected: do single-player video games with social surrogates replenish belonging after social rejection"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:11:22Z"}