Disputation: Saga Pardede

PhD-thesis

• Trial lecture starts at 10:15
• Public defence starts at 12:30

Title of trial lecture: Exploring Motivation: Origins and Functions

Read the thesis in NVA

Disputation chair: Professor Siri Håvås Haugland, Head of Department og Psychosocial Health, University of Agder

Assessment committee: 

• First oppoent: Professor Laura Ferrer-Wreder, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Second opponent: Professor Pål Kraft, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
• Chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Norman Anderssen, Departement of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder

Supervisors in the doctoral work: 

• Main supervisor: Professor Velibor Bobo Kovac, Department of Education, University of Agder
• Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Jan Georg Friesinger, Department of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder

Summary of thesis

What it really means to Belong – Mapping the emotional landscape between the psychological significance of the Need to Belong and a Sense-of-Belongingness

Our perspective stems with some of the basic understanding and working knowledge that humans are social creatures by nature and, as social creatures we are largely dependent on and motivated towards social attachments and the need for a connection with others. Nonetheless, while this motivational need for attachment and the need to connect with others are universal, often enough we find ourselves feeling belonginglessness despite for the most part having and being positively surrounded/around our loved ones (e.g. family, significant others, and friends). For instance, the common misconception that – one cannot be lonely or feel alone when having fun and being surrounded by people.

This doctoral thesis examines how the universal motivation need to belong (NTB) that frame the human organism can be empirically and theoretically distinguished in relation to the complex indicators of individuals’ emotional appraisals and active experiences of one’s sense-of-belongingness (SOB), which emerge under various belongingness-condition.

In total, three independent studies were conducted. Paper I, explored what makes belongingness and acceptance two elemental features of human need, given that the two constructs cut across psychological perspectives and theories in the motivational need to belong. Paper II explored five personal appraisals that was reflected on two different belongingness-conditions that affect and relate to how SOB is represented in relation to the NTB as a basic human need. In particular the investigation of two different belongingness-conditions: Social-Emotion Support and Social-Value Representation was selected because research has indicated that our SOB is strongly connected and motivated based on the need and concern for deep emotional meaning and successful self and social representation of oneself. Lastly, Paper III offers a more dialectical discursive towards presenting a theoretical basis for an understanding and discussion of the conceptual differences and similarities between the two constructs of the NTB and SOB.

The findings converse that NTB is an inescapable motivation in all of us and fuels our need to establish social connections and to find acceptance, if we are lucky. However, the experiences of SOB do not come automatically as a mere satisfaction of the NTB but depend on various life conditions that shape each specific human experience and intention. The empirical and theoretical arguments discussed that the feelings of SOB that emerge under specific belongingness-conditions influence human actions differently and, as such, represent a unique personal relational phenomenon that should be conceptually distinguished from the general motivational NTB.

The key contributions include the need to highlight theoretically, empirically, and integrate a better working framework for understanding and advancing the belongingness constructs especially in connection when working with individuals suffering and in risk of loneliness. Not only that, but this also implies that it is crucial to understand in greater detail the interrelations and fluctuations between the NTB and SOB towards developing effective strategies and interventions for people and groups who are experiencing or at risk of being rejected, discriminated, isolated and feeling loneliness (e.g. minorities, vulnerable groups and indigenous peoples). Lastly, the research proposed that specific social belongingness-conditions may exert a powerful influence on how social situations are experienced and contextualised, including types of belongingness that could be incentive and established outside the norm or in opposition to the norm, such as the rise of extremism and radicalisation or participating in school violence.

To put it simply, ‘no one size fits all’ in experiencing belongingness.

About the candidate

Saga Pardede – 1986 (Scottish/Indonesian) Holds a Master’s Degree in Education and Psychology from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland (2017) and a BA Honour’s Degree in Community Education from Strathclyde University, Scotland (2013). Formerly Saga worked as a Kindergarten Teacher in Munich, Germany commencing the start of his PhD at the University of Agder in 2019.

What to do as an online audience member

The disputation is open to the public. To follow the trial lecture and the public defence online, register on Zoom.

We ask online audience members to join no earlier than 10 minutes in advance. After these times, you can leave and rejoin the meeting at any time.

Opponent ex auditorio: 

Deadline for the public to pose questions is during the break between the two opponents. Questions ex auditorio can be submitted to disputation chair Professor Siri Håvås Haugland, copy PhD-adm. Eli Andås.