Loneliness Spreads Like a Virus
source: http://www.livescience.com/culture/091201-loneliness-spreads-friends.html
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- DeliaTheArtist
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"Loneliness, like a bad cold, can spread among groups of people, new research finds.
While a runny nose might spread through handshakes, people likely catch the loneliness bug through negative interactions. A lonely person will be less trusting of others, essentially "making a mountain out of a molehill," said study researcher John Cacioppo, a psychologist at the University of Chicago. An odd look or phrasing by a friend that wouldn't even be noticed by a chipper person could be seen as an affront to the lonely, triggering a cycle of negative interactions that cause people to lose friends.
The upshot: A lonely person is likely to lose touch with another person, who in turn gets cut off from others, and both end up on the fringes of a social group.
"A lonely person who anticipates others are going to act negatively toward them finds evidence in their environment for that, partly because they anticipate it and partly because they elicit it," Cacioppo told LiveScience.
The finding, published in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, suggests that loneliness is not a character trait, as in "that person is such a loner," but more of a state such as hunger, which evolved as a cue to motivate our ancestors to go find food.
"We're fundamentally a social species so we need others with whom we can cooperate and work," Cacioppo said. As such, loneliness may have been a cue to look out for anyone who might ostracize you, he added."
More at link- do you think loneliness can "spread"?
http://www.livescience.com/culture/091201-loneliness-spreads-friends.html
While a runny nose might spread through handshakes, people likely catch the loneliness bug through negative interactions. A lonely person will be less trusting of others, essentially "making a mountain out of a molehill," said study researcher John Cacioppo, a psychologist at the University of Chicago. An odd look or phrasing by a friend that wouldn't even be noticed by a chipper person could be seen as an affront to the lonely, triggering a cycle of negative interactions that cause people to lose friends.
The upshot: A lonely person is likely to lose touch with another person, who in turn gets cut off from others, and both end up on the fringes of a social group.
"A lonely person who anticipates others are going to act negatively toward them finds evidence in their environment for that, partly because they anticipate it and partly because they elicit it," Cacioppo told LiveScience.
The finding, published in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, suggests that loneliness is not a character trait, as in "that person is such a loner," but more of a state such as hunger, which evolved as a cue to motivate our ancestors to go find food.
"We're fundamentally a social species so we need others with whom we can cooperate and work," Cacioppo said. As such, loneliness may have been a cue to look out for anyone who might ostracize you, he added."
More at link- do you think loneliness can "spread"?
http://www.livescience.com/culture/091201-loneliness-spreads-friends.html
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