Some people shudder at the thought of eating alone in a restaurant.

Others couldn’t bear to go to a movie theater on their own.

But then there are people who not only have no fear of these situations, they might actually prefer them. I’m talking about people who like to be alone or at least place a really high value on the alone time that they do get.

Most of us are pretty social, spending our days talking and interacting with lots of other people. That doesn’t, however, mean we’re all happy with this situation.

For a lot of people, spending time alone is interesting and a good way to ground themselves and recharge their batteries.

We sometimes call these people “loners,” which has a negative ring to it, or “lone wolves,” which sounds pretty cool. But there’s a lot more to enjoying your own company than these thin labels, and psychology can help us understand more about these fascinating folks. 

To that end, here are seven amazing qualities of people who like to be alone, according to psychology.

1) They’re less lonely.

Social isolation, being alone when you don’t want to be, is linked with loneliness and poor quality of life. But it’s important to recognize that this isn’t the case for people who spend time alone by choice.

Spending time alone on purpose might be better rephrased as “spending time in solitude.” Doesn’t that sound a whole lot less negative?

The reason this rephrasing makes sense is that the effects of social isolation, which include loneliness, poor health, and increased mortality, simply don’t apply when people want to be alone. 

If you think about it, wanting to be alone is not loneliness by definition. People who are lonely prefer the company of others and feel unhappy when that’s lacking.

But people who enjoy time to themselves and prefer to be on their own, at least for a significant portion of their time just aren’t lonely.

Or at least, they’re not as lonely as people who are isolated by circumstances and not by choice, and therefore, they don’t suffer the negative consequences of loneliness as much, either.

2) They may be more academically successful.

If you think of a classic introvert, you might have a picture in your mind of a person who always has their nose in a book rather than in a conversation.

Well, there’s a good reason for this stereotype.

Introverted individuals often like reading more than extroverts as this is an activity that they can perform on their own without any social pressure.

But does that mean that introverts will be better at reading or even at academic performance in general? It turns out that the answer is not as simple as we might expect.

Several studies have actually found that students’ reading comprehension is positively associated with extroversion, not introversion. Why might this be?

When learning to read, extroverted individuals might be more inclined to ask questions and interact with their teachers and peers than introverts.

However, sex differences can be seen in general academic performance. Extroverted boys get better grades than introverted boys, but introverted girls do better than extroverts. 

So introversion, which is often linked with preferring or enjoying alone time, is linked with academic success but only, apparently, for girls.

3) They’re less stressed.

Another important quality of people who like to be alone is something you might guess if you think about it. What’s more stressful, dealing a lot with others or being on your own?

Unless you’re being chased by a pack of vicious animals, you’d probably recognize that being on your own would be less stressful. After all, there are just fewer factors that could cause stress than when there are more and more people around you.

Well, psychology confirms this.

Studies have found that people are less stressed and more peaceful and relaxed when they’re on their own.

But there’s a catch.

This is only true when they’re alone by choice. Again, we have to consider the effects of social isolation which itself could be a very stressful experience.

But when people choose to be alone, they can reap the rewards of less stress and greater well-being.

4) They’re more autonomous.

What does it mean to feel autonomy?

One study published in Nature gives this rather academic definition: “fostering self-connection, or feeling autonomy need-satisfied through volitional and self-congruent action and experience”.

To rephrase that more clearly, autonomy is feeling free to be yourself and not pressured or controlled to behave in certain ways. It also means doing things that you want to do and not what others require or expect of you.

So right away, we’d probably expect people to feel more autonomous when they’re on their own. After all, when you’re alone, there’s no one there to tell you what to do and how to think.

That’s exactly what the Nature study found, but again the factor of motivation was important here. When people were spending time alone because they wanted to, they displayed a lot more autonomy satisfaction. They felt like they were getting the opportunity to be the captains of their own ships.

However, people who were alone but not by choice didn’t feel autonomy, but instead felt trapped by their circumstances.

So, greater feelings of autonomy seem to be a quality that people only have when they’re alone by choice. 

5) They’re creative.

Is this a surprise?

If you’re considered a weird kid and are forced to play by yourself, wouldn’t you develop a powerful, creative imagination?

That’s actually not how it seems to work at all. In fact, increased creativity is only seen in people who enjoy their solitude and take time to be alone, rather than being forced into it.

A study performed by researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo measured different reasons for social withdrawal, including anxiety, aggression, and anhedonia. This study also measured creativity and determined this to be a benefit of being unsocial.

People who were more unsocial scored higher on creativity measurements than people who were more social.

However, it’s not clear what the cause-and-effect relationship is between these two factors. 

On the one hand, it could be that people who are creative prefer to remove themselves from social situations to focus more on their creative endeavors. We can all think of examples like painting and writing that are quite solitary pursuits.

On the other hand, solitude may foster creativity since it may produce fewer distractions than socializing does.

Either way, people who like to spend time alone are more creative on average than people who don’t.

6) They feel more personal growth.

Personal growth doesn’t have to happen only on your own time. After all, we grow from many different experiences and those can include social and non-social situations.

However, it seems that people who seek out alone time and enjoy their solitude tend to feel more satisfaction with their personal growth.

According to one study that looked at seniors, those who took time to enjoy daily periods of solitude showed higher levels of well-being.

They felt that they were in charge of their lives and that their lives were full of change and growth. They also felt a greater sense of direction and purpose in their lives.

Perhaps these feelings grow when people take more time in solitude to reflect on their lives. That may explain why people who enjoy time on their own feel like they’ve grown and developed – they actually take the time to think about it.

7) They’re more satisfied with life.

Does being alone make you happier?

It all depends on whether you’re happy being alone, according to studies.

Research into preference for solitude in Japanese seniors found a strong correlation between this preference and positive feelings and life satisfaction.

In other words, the more people were happy to be on their own, the happier they were with their lives in general.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that being alone makes you happy necessarily. The opposite is probably true, that happy people are more satisfied spending time alone than unhappy people.

So if you’re a person who likes to be alone, it’s probably because you’re happier with your life than most other people. 

The value of solitude

We’ve just looked at seven amazing qualities of people who like to be alone, according to psychology. What they have in common is that they represent not people who are isolated or lonely but people who take time alone by choice.

These are people who are happy on their own, interested in their own thoughts and feelings, and appreciative of solitude. And they seem to be doing very well.

So if you want to have a happier life, it might be worthwhile to seek out solitude and try to learn from the experience. You don’t have to become a hermit and retreat from society.

Far from it!

But you may find that some daily alone time greatly enriches your life.