Sociotropy: what it is and characteristics of this personality type.

Let's see what sociotropy is and how it leads to overinvestment in personal relationships.

Every human being is unique and unrepeatable, but there are some patterns 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 being related to. We will also delve into different studies carried out to understand this phenomenon.

What is sociotropy?

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 evident a propensity to devote most of one's time and resources to peer relationships to the point where such behavior is no longer natural and becomes pathological.. Behind this behavior lies an extreme need to gain the acceptance of others.

Those individuals who fit into the framework of sociotropy usually show disproportionate affectionate behavior towards other people with whom they do not really have such a close relationship as to make such behavior socially appropriate. Therefore, this would be a good indicator to consider whether the subject is suffering from this condition.

According to some studies, it has been found that there is a gender difference in the prevalence of sociotropia. In that sense, the data seem to show that women are more likely to experience this condition than men.. In addition, it has been proven that this condition also affects the subject's self-control.

Therefore, when a person is sociotropic, he tends to manage his behaviors under the premise of external approval and not under his own control, so he may engage in excessive behaviors if he believes he is pleasing his peers, since this factor will have much more weight for him than the possible personal consequences of such acts.

Likewise, it has also been proven that sociotropia could be related to traumas experienced in the past by the individual who suffers from it, and also to situations of interpersonal stress, i.e., the one who has to be in a situation of stress.that is, stress related to relationships with other individuals. All these factors can influence the possibility of the person developing depression in the future, as we will see below.

The sociotropy and autonomy scale

If we were to consider sociotropy as the extreme end of a scale, on the other side of this axis we could place the autonomy of the subject. Therefore, sociotropy would be the total absence of autonomy in a person, 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 because he believed 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.

In order to create the SAS test, a psychometric study was carried out which finally provided three different factors to measure sociotropy. The first of these 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.This 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 socially closer to others, bearing in mind that there is always a degree of uncertainty aboutThe second would refer to the restlessness that arises in this person for wanting to approach others socially, taking into account that there is always a degree of uncertainty about how they will react.

Finally, we would find a desire to constantly please others, which would be the third of the threeThis would be the third SAS factor for measuring sociotropy.

Similarly, to measure autonomy, i.e., the other extreme, three factors were also obtained that the questionnaire items would be responsible for measuring. The first one would estimate how the person would perform autonomously, without the need for external help.

The next would correspond to the The next would correspond to the degree to which this subject moves away from the control of other individuals.s. Finally, the factor that would complete the SAS would be the one measuring the person's desire to be alone rather than accompanied. These are the six factors, three measuring sociotropy and three measuring autonomy, that would complete this scale.

Over the years, this tool has evolved over the years.. Today, only two factors measure sociotropy. The first of these corresponds to the feeling of need, and is also the factor that correlates with depressive symptomatology. The second is connectivity, which refers to the person's assessment of his or her relationship with others.

Relationship between sociotropy and depression

We have already anticipated that authors such as Beck discovered the relationship that sociotropy had with other pathologies, especially depression. In this 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 depression in the future, provided that the conditions for it were present.if the conditions for this were present.

Does this mean that all people who fall into the sociotropic category are going to suffer depression at some point in their lives? No. What these studies affirm is that these people have a higher probability of suffering from this disease than those who are not in the sociotropic group.

The next question we might ask is why they are more likely to be depressed. Researchers have hypothesized that sociotropic people sustain their self-esteem in their relationships with other individualsHence, they need 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 sociotropia 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 cause the increased likelihood of depression that we saw earlier.

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 coupled with limited assertiveness abilities.. What this causes is that the person in question orients his behaviors to satisfy others. He or she prefers this rather than creating a hypothetical situation that would lead to his or her abandonment.

Logically, another important factor when it comes to generating sociotropy are the person's shyness 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 stem to a large extent from this trait.

Research conducted with Beck's SAS scale revealed an issue to be taken into account. When we are studying subjects who are not only sociotropic but also shy, we find the paradox that these people would be having a deep inner conflict, since one part of them pushes them to approach others and establish relationships while another promotes just the opposite.

To these people, their shyness makes it difficult for them to relate to others, but sociotropy, at the same time, forces them to do so, as they need social approval.They need social approval. It is, therefore, a particularly exhausting situation, because 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 of behavior.

In these cases, it seems that the conclusions drawn from the studies conducted pointed to the possibility that sociotropy also plays an important role as a predictor of a negative symptomatology that has to do with situations in which the person requires the use of assertiveness or has to engage in conversations or has to engage in conversations with other subjects, as these are events in which these two parts of his or her personality clash.

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 devotes a great deal of resources to trying to make his or her interpersonal relationships satisfactory to others will tend to experience a great deal of anxiety because of this whole process.

Indeed, these studies showed a positive correlation between anxiety and sociotropy in a variety of social situations, i.e., involving both that individual and another individual and the relationships between them.i.e., involving both that individual and another individual and the relationships between them.

Bibliographical references:

• Castelló, J. (2000). Analysis of the concept of emotional dependence. I Virtual Congress of Psychiatry.
• Fernández-Rey, J., Madrid, H.M., Pardo-Vázquez, J.L. (2004). Emotional information processing biases in sociotropic individuals. Psicothema.
• Toro, R.A., Arias, H.A., Avella, S. (2013). Sociotropic and autonomic congruent information processing in subjects with depressive and anxious symptomatology. Revista Vanguardia Psicológica Clínica Teórica y Práctica.
• Toro, R. A., Arias, H. A., Sarmiento, J. C. (2016). Sociotropy and autonomy: evidence for the symptom specificity hypothesis in depression? Psicología Clínica.