People as Penguins: Thermoregulation as Part of the Human Essence

Abstract

In this chapter we provide an overview of the domain of social thermoregulation. Our overview suggests that humans have always relied on, and still rely on, thermoregulation to navigate their social environment. In outlining social thermoregulation as a crucial feature of the human essence, we focus on the continuity of thermoregulatory mechanisms from other animals to humans. We then provide a number of different effects from the social psychological literature that helps us understand how thermoregulation is implicated in social behavior. From there on, we seek to understand our brain as a “hierarchically organized prediction machine” that helps us keep temperature at optimal levels. By then, it should be clear how thermoregulation is part of our human essence, how it changes our thoughts about others, and alters our motivations to be with others. We end by pointing to the implications of understanding thermoregulation as human essence.

The Human Penguin Project: Climate, Social Integration, and Core Body Temperature

“…Yet, other effects did replicate (Schilder et al, 2014;Ebersole et al, 2016;IJzerman & Semin, 2009;Inagaki, Irwin, & Eisenberger, 2015), while some effects have been obtained with considerably larger samples, like those between 100 and 500 (e.g., IJzerman, Janssen, et al, 2015;Van Acker et al, 2016), or even around 30,000 (Hong & Sun, 2012) and above 6 million (Zwebner et al, 2013). Finally, extensive converging evidence exists with other species and human biological functioning that attests to the importance of social thermoregulation (for reviews, see IJzerman & Hogerzeil, 2018;Terrien et al, 2011). We suspect that data-driven approaches can help establish formal theoretical models outlining specific mechanisms and formulating specific predictions related to social thermoregulation theory.…”

“…Having high-quality social relationships is one of the biggest predictors of one's health (Holt-Lunstad et al, 2010). Although scholars dating back to Hippocrates have understood that disturbances in health closely relate to dysregulated body temperature (Benzinger, 1969;Minard et al, 1964), evidence for the link between thermophysiology and social relationships in humans has only just begun to accumulate (for a review, see IJzerman & Hogerzeil, 2018). In its most elementary form endotherms (i.e., animals that generate their own heat) maintain temperature at homeostatic levels in various ways, such as yawning, panting, or sweating when temperatures increase or shivering when temperatures decrease (Gallup & Gallup, 2008;Janský, 1973).…”

“…The connection between social behavior and thermoregulation is likely not incidental: Like other homeotherms, ancient Homo Sapiens simply needed to stay physically proximate to stay warm. 1 From that perspective, it may not come as a surprise that the aggregate evidence has come to favor this evolved relation between social and physical warmth (IJzerman & Hogerzeil, 2018;IJzerman, Janssen, et al, 2015;Schilder et al, 2009). Evolutionary pressures related to infant survival (e.g., feeling cold and wanting to be held) likely form the basis for an evolved template for mental (attachment-like) models concerning the relationship between physical and social warmth.…”

“…Distributing body heat across conspecifics makes responding to environmental fluctuations in temperature less costly energetically by lowering metabolic rate. Perhaps more surprisingly, the literature on human adults has also shown a link between feelings of trust (or psychological warmth) and temperature regulation (for an overview, see IJzerman & Hogerzeil, 2018). It is unclear however to what extent these effects extend to relationships beyond immediate close ties and whether "social warmth" indeed protects people's core body temperatures from the cold.…”

Modernizing Relationship Therapy through Social Thermoregulation Theory: Evidence, Hypotheses, and Explorations

“…Specifically, they propose to integrate Social Thermoregulation Theory (IJzerman et al, 2015a; IJzerman and Hogerzeil, 2017) into Emotionally Focused Therapy by first doing exploratory research during couples’ therapy, followed by Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs). The authors thus suggest crafting a Social Thermoregulation Therapy (STT) as enhancement to existing relationship therapies.…”