Loneliness : human nature and the need for social connection

Title:

Author:

Cacioppo, John T.

Added Author:

Patrick, William, 1948-

Personal Author:

Cacioppo, John T.

ISBN:

9780393061703

Edition:

1st edition.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

xiv, 269 pages ; 24 cm

Contents:

pt. 1. lonely heart -- Ch. 1. Lonely in a social world -- Ch. 2. Variation, regulation, and an elastic leash -- Ch. 3. Losing control -- Ch. 4. Selfish genes, social animals -- Ch. 5. universal and the particular -- Ch. 6. wear and tear of loneliness -- pt. 2. From selfish genes to social beings -- Ch. 7. Sympathetic threads -- Ch. 8. indissociable organism -- Ch. 9. Knowing thyself, among others -- Ch. 10. Conflicted by nature -- Ch. 11. Conflicts in nature -- pt. 3. Finding meaning in connection -- Ch. 12. Three adaptations -- Ch. 13. Getting it right -- Ch. 14. power of social connection.

Abstract:

A neuroscientist demonstrates the correlation between social environments and health, offering insight into the differences between chronic loneliness and depression while explaining how social isolation can affect perceptions, behavior, and physiology.

Subject Term:

Neuropsychology.

Loneliness -- Physiological aspects.

Loneliness.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Main Library	Book	155.9 C118	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

John T. Cacioppo's groundbreaking research topples one of the pillars of modern medicine and psychology: the focus on the individual as the unit of inquiry. By employing brain scans, monitoring blood pressure, and analyzing immune function, he demonstrates the overpowering influence of social context--a factor so strong that it can alter DNA replication. He defines an unrecognized syndrome--chronic loneliness--brings it out of the shadow of its cousin depression, and shows how this subjective sense of social isolation uniquely disrupts our perceptions, behavior, and physiology, becoming a trap that not only reinforces isolation but can also lead to early death. He gives the lie to the Hobbesian view of human nature as a "war of all against all," and he shows how social cooperation is, in fact, humanity's defining characteristic. Most important, he shows how we can break the trap of isolation for our benefit both as individuals and as a society.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

An absorbing account of our genetically programmed need for each other's company. Cacioppo (Psychology/Univ. of Chicago), president of the Association for Psychological Science, and Patrick, editor in chief of the Journal of Life Sciences, offer a serious but enjoyable study of loneliness and its surprisingly harmful consequences. For millennia, primitive hominids roamed the African savannah in bands that were essential for fending off large carnivores. Few isolated individuals survived long enough to pass on their genes, so our DNA promotes sociability for sound evolutionary reasons. Long before civilization and the death penalty, the worst punishment a criminal could expect was ostracism. "Loner" is a word often seen in articles on serial killers. The authors rock no boats by explaining that personal happiness as well as material success requires the ability to manage the give-and-take of human interaction. They deliver some jolts describing what happens in the absence of social connections. High-tech research and population studies prove that lonely people suffer more than emotional stress. They fall ill more quickly, recover slowly and live shorter lives. While traditional culprits--lack of social support and unhealthy habits--contribute, it's clear that isolation produces disease by impairing immunity, slowing wound repair and accelerating the aging process. Research subjects persuaded that they are unpopular show impaired judgment and a slower ability to solve problems. Those looking for cheerful advice on winning friends, attracting lovers and forging alliances with colleagues should move on to the self-help section of their bookstores, but they should also read Cacioppo and Patrick's work. It provides convincing evidence that lonely people shoot themselves in the foot by harboring irrational fears of those whose friendship they seek. Top-notch science writing: stimulating and useful information conveyed in accessible prose. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.