How Self-Location Predicts the Degree and Quality of the Felt Sense of Connection
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{sester2026selflocation,
title = {{How Self-Location Predicts the Degree and Quality of the Felt Sense of Connection}},
author = {MARIE SESTER and Glenn Hartelius and Michaël Dambrun},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/hkdyb_v3},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/hkdyb_v3/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - How Self-Location Predicts the Degree and Quality of the Felt Sense of Connection
AU - MARIE SESTER
AU - Glenn Hartelius
AU - Michaël Dambrun
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/hkdyb_v3
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/hkdyb_v3/
AB - 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.
ER -