{
  "abstract": "Research has typically examined how self-location in the head or heart is associated with traits and behavior, yet its link to relationality—specifically the felt sense of connection—remains underexplored. This study investigated how dispositional self-location predicts the embodied experience of being relationally linked to others and the world. We initially developed the Dispositional Self-Location Questionnaire (DSLQ), an association-based instrument designed to minimize potential subjective bias in participant reporting of self-location. Using this measure, we categorized a U.S. sample of 218 adults who had reported a strong experience of connection as head-locators or heart-locators and assessed them on self-construal, self-expansiveness, connectedness, and perceived qualities of connection. Head-locators reported firmer self-boundaries, emphasizing independence, rationality, and decision-making. In contrast, Heart-locators scored significantly higher on connectedness to both self and world, and on metapersonal self-construal, describing their connections as close, warm, caring, and authentic. These findings suggest that self-location functions as a somatic attentional stance that anticipates the experiential boundary between self and other: the head favors separation and autonomy, while the heart favors openness and expanded belonging.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "MARIE SESTER"
    },
    {
      "name": "Glenn Hartelius"
    },
    {
      "name": "Michaël Dambrun"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0cxxtsn8z7md1.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31234/osf.io/hkdyb_v3",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "0cxxtsn8z7md1",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/hkdyb_v3/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Affect and Emotion Regulation"
    ],
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      "bepress",
      "Attention"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Behavioral Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Cognitive Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Cognitive Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Consciousness"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Developmental Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Emotion"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Interpersonal Relationships"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Life Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Other Neuroscience and Neurobiology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Personality Processes"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Prosocial Behavior"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Self and Social Identity"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Self-concept and Identity"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Social Well-being"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Social and Behavioral Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Social and Personality Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Embodied and Extended Cognition"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221706351",
  "pdf_url": "https://osf.io/hkdyb/download",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-07",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0cxxtsn8z7md1.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:55Z",
      "native_id": "hkdyb",
      "source": "osf",
      "url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/hkdyb_v1/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "bepress:Cognitive Neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "How Self-Location Predicts the Degree and Quality of the Felt Sense of Connection",
  "title_text": "How Self-Location Predicts the Degree and Quality of the Felt Sense of Connection",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0cxxtsn8z7md1",
  "venue": "PsyArXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1037/cns0000501",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
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      "venue": null
    }
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}