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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... painful isolation . His sophisticated studies relying on brain imaging , analysis of blood pressure , immune response ... pain of loneliness engendered a fear response so powerfully disruptive that even now , millions of years later , a ...
... pain , hunger , and thirst , and that understanding this function and its effects on social cognition holds some of the secrets to healthier , wealthier , happier lives is not so apparent . Perhaps fittingly , this book on the science ...
... pain we feel without it , are defining characteristics of our species . Loneliness becomes an issue of serious concern only when it settles in long enough to create a persistent , self - reinforcing loop of negative thoughts ...
... pain , " very much part of the normal state . Health and well - being for a mem- ber of our species requires , among other things , being satisfied and secure in our bonds with other people , a condition of " not being lonely " that ...
... pain . The dark rectangular blotch near the top of the brain represents the activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in response to social rejection . The brain responds similarly to physical pain . Adapted from N. I. ...
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 |