Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection

Front Cover
W. W. Norton & Company, 2009 - Psychology - 317 pages
1 Review

University of Chicago social neuroscientist John T. Cacioppo unveils his pioneering research on the startling effects of loneliness: a sense of isolation or social rejection disrupts not only our thinking abilities and will power but also our immune systems, and can be as damaging as obesity or smoking. A blend of biological and social science, this book demonstrates that, as individuals and as a society, we have everything to gain, and everything to lose, in how well or how poorly we manage our need for social bonds.

 

What people are saying - Write a review

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - PeskyLibrary - LibraryThing

We often see loneliness as a weakness. People who are lonely are seen as being needy because they cannot function well without social interaction. However in Loneliness by John T. Cacioppo we see that ... Read full review

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Suva - LibraryThing

Cacioppo and Patrick attack the received idea that social connection and empathy are the luxuries we annex onto our workaday existence, and instead show them as essential for human life. Through ... Read full review

Selected pages

Contents

acknowledgments
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
PART THREE
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN

PART TWO
CHAPTER SEVEN
notes
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection
John T. Cacioppo,William Patrick
Limited preview - 2008
Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection
John T. Cacioppo,William Patrick
No preview available - 2008
Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection
John T. Cacioppo,William Patrick
No preview available - 2008

Common terms and phrases

ability activity adaptive altruistic amygdala animals Baumeister behavior bonobos brain called chimpanzees chimps co-regulation complex contribute cooperation cortex cultural depression effect emotional environment evolution evolutionary executive control experience feel lonely female fMRI friends function G. G. Berntson genes genetic greater happiness Hawkley hormones human increase individual individual’s interactions J. A. Hobson J. T. Cacioppo Journal of Personality kind Kung L. C. Hawkley less lives loneliness male megachurches mirror neuron monkeys natural selection negative neural nonlonely Ohio State University older adults one’s oxytocin pain parents participants partner perceptions Personality and Social Phineas Gage physical physiological prefrontal cortex processes regulation relationships response Rizzolatti Science self-regulation selfish gene sensations sense share showed signals simply social cognition social connection social exclusion social isolation social neuroscience Social Psychology someone species stress stressors survival trying University of Chicago York young

About the author (2009)

John T. Cacioppo (1951--2018) was a psychology professor at the University of Chicago and director of the university's Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience. He was the author of more than a dozen books, including Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connections.

William Patrick, former editor for science and medicine at Harvard University Press, is editor in chief of the Journal of Life Sciences. He lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Loneliness
TitleLoneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection
AuthorsJohn T. Cacioppo, William Patrick
Editionillustrated, reprint
PublisherW. W. Norton & Company, 2009
ISBN0393335283, 9780393335286
Length317 pages
Subjects › 

Psychology / Emotions
Science / Philosophy & Social Aspects
Self-Help / General
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan