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Loneliness as a Closure of the Affordance Space: The Case of COVID-19 Pandemic

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Abstract

Since the beginning of the current COVID-19 pandemic, specialists were concerned about the potential detrimental effects of physical distancing measures on well-being. Loneliness has been underscored as one of the most critical ones given the wide range of mental and physical health problems associated with it. Unlike social isolation, loneliness does not depend on social network size, so it can be experienced even if surrounded by others, or not be experienced at all even if one is alone. In this article, I propose that the feeling of loneliness might result from a closure in a person’s affordance space, i.e., in the whole range of affordances that might stand out as relevant to an individual with a particular repertoire of habits and embedded within certain sociocultural practices. I will explore three possible sources of this closure during the current pandemic, as well as some ways in which people coped with loneliness.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges support from the the Mexican National Systems of Researchers (SNI-CONAHCYT) and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University’s Special Research Student Fellowship. The author thanks Jorge Pablo Oseguera Gamba and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft.

Funding

This work was supported by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (Special Research Student Fellowship), Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (to Susana Ramírez-Vizcaya).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research in Cognitive Sciences (CINCCO), Autonomous University of the State of Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Chamilpa, 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Susana Ramírez-Vizcaya

  2. Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan

    Susana Ramírez-Vizcaya

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  1. Susana Ramírez-Vizcaya
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Correspondence to Susana Ramírez-Vizcaya.

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Ramírez-Vizcaya, S. Loneliness as a Closure of the Affordance Space: The Case of COVID-19 Pandemic. Topoi 42, 1243–1255 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-023-09935-0

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