Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social ConnectionBased on groundbreaking research showing that prolonged loneliness can be as harmful to your health as smoking, Loneliness is “one of the most important books about the human condition to appear in a decade” (Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness). University of Chicago social neuroscientist John T. Cacioppo pioneered research on the startling effects of loneliness: a sense of isolation or social rejection disrupts not only our ability to think and will power but also our immune systems, and can be as damaging as obesity or smoking. On the flip side, social connection can be a powerful therapy. Cacioppo’s sophisticated studies relying on brain imaging, analysis of blood pressure, immune response, stress hormones, behavior, and even gene expression show that human beings are simply far more intertwined and interdependent—physiologically as well as psychologically—than our cultural assumptions have ever allowed us to acknowledge. Loneliness traces the evolution of these tandem forces, showing how, for our primitive ancestors, survival depended not on greater brawn but on greater commitments to each other. Serving as a prompt to repair frayed social bonds, the pain of loneliness engendered a fear response so powerfully disruptive that even now, millions of years later, a persistent sense of rejection or isolation can impair DNA transcription in our immune cells. This disruption also impairs our ability to read social signals and exercise social skills, as well as limits our ability to internally regulate our emotions—all of which can combine to trap us in self-defeating behaviors that reinforce the very isolation and rejection that we dread. Loneliness shows us how to overcome this feedback loop to achieve better health and greater happiness. 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.
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From inside the book
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... research we would have considerably less to say on the topic of loneliness and social connection . Finally , we thank Lisa Adams , who not only convinced us to undertake this book but made it possible for us to acknowledgments XIII.
... less social connection , but connection that felt more meaningful — a level of connection that matched her genetically biased predisposition . Almost everyone feels the pangs of loneliness at certain moments . It can be brief and ...
... females on the social scene nearby.1 Running is usually an activity that promotes a healthy brain , but in studies conducted with lab rats , running proved less beneficial to the brains of animals housed in lonely in a social world II.
... less lonely than unmarried people , but , then again , marriage is no guarantee . Being miserably lonely inside a marriage has been a literary staple from Madame Bovary to The Sopranos . And being in a marriage can sometimes limit ...
... less physically attractive than average , and they do not differ , on average , from the non- lonely in terms of height , weight , age , education , or intelligence . Most important , when we look at the broad continuum ( rather than ...
Contents
1 | |
20 | |
35 | |
Selfish Genes Social Animals | 52 |
The Universal and the Particular | 73 |
CHAPTER | 92 |
From Selfish Genes to Social Beings | 111 |
An Indissociable Organism | 128 |
Conflicted by Nature | 169 |
Conflicts in Nature | 182 |
Finding Meaning in Connection | 199 |
Getting It Right | 221 |
The Power of Social Connection | 247 |
Notes | 271 |
Index | 297 |
Knowing Thyself among Others | 145 |
Other editions - View all
Loneliness: Human Nature And The Need For Social Connection John T Cacioppo,William Patrick Limited preview - 2009 |
Loneliness: Human Nature And The Need For Social Connection John T Cacioppo,William Patrick No preview available - 2009 |
Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection John T. Cacioppo,William Patrick No preview available - 2008 |