The Higher Your Implicit Affiliation-Intimacy Motive, the More Loneliness Can Turn You Into a Social Cynic: A Cross-Cultural Study.

Research has shown that the strength of the implicit affiliation-intimacy motive moderates the effects of satisfaction and frustration of the need for affiliation-intimacy: Low relatedness was more closely related to envy for people high in the implicit affiliation-intimacy motive. The present study tests a moderating effect of the strength of the implicit affiliation-intimacy motive on the association between low relatedness and social cynicism in samples of elderly people from Germany, the Czech Republic, and Cameroon. A total of 616 participants provided information on their implicit affiliation-intimacy motive, relatedness, and social cynicism. As hypothesized, a moderation effect of the strength of the implicit affiliation-intimacy motive was found that held true regardless of participants' culture of origin: For people high in the implicit affiliation-intimacy motive, a lack of relatedness was associated with higher levels of social cynicism. Our findings complement other theories stating that positive relationships with others are a significant part of successful aging.