The neuroscience of social feelings: mechanisms of adaptive social functioning

Eslinger, Paul J.; Anders, Silke; Ballarini, Tommaso; Boutros, Sydney Weber; Krach, Sören; Mayer, Annalina V.; Moll, Jorge; Newton, Tamara L.; Schroeter, Matthias L.; Oliveira‐Souza, Ricardo de; Raber, Jacob; Sullivan, Gavin Brent; Swain, James E.; Lowe, Leroy; Zahn, Roland

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.028

Cited by 72 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 337 publications

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“…, 2017 ). Importantly, while these circuits are not specific to attachment and support multiple affective processes of both social and non-social nature ( Eslinger et al. , 2021 ), research has repeatedly implicated these regions in the formation and maintenance of the parent-to-child attachment ( Swain et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural representation of the parent–child attachment from infancy to adulthood

Ulmer-Yaniv

Waidergoren

Shaked

et al. 2021

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Attachment theory is built on the assumption of consistency; the mother-infant bond is thought to underpin the life-long representations individuals construct of attachment relationships. Still, consistency in the individual’s neural response to attachment-related stimuli representing his or her entire relational history has not been investigated. Mothers and children were followed across two decades and videotaped in infancy (3-6 months), childhood (9-12 years), and young adulthood (18-24 years). In adulthood, participants underwent fMRI while exposed to videos of own mother-child interactions (Self) versus unfamiliar interactions (Other). Self-stimuli elicited greater activations across preregistered nodes of the human attachment network, including thalamus-to-brainstem, amygdala, hippocampus, ACC, insula, and temporal cortex. Critically, self-stimuli were age-invariant in most ROIs despite large variability in social behavior and Bayesian analysis showed strong evidence for lack of age-related differences. PPI analysis indicated that self-stimuli elicited tighter connectivity between ACC and anterior insula, consolidating an interface associating information from exteroceptive and interceptive sources to sustain attachment representations. Child social engagement behavior was individually stable from infancy to adulthood and linked with greater ACC and insula response to self-stimuli. Findings demonstrate overlap in circuits sustaining parental and child attachment and accord with perspectives on the continuity of attachment across human development.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural representation of the parent–child attachment from infancy to adulthood

Ulmer-Yaniv

Waidergoren

Shaked

et al. 2021

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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“…It is considered a "pervasive and adverse psychological state with the feeling of emotional isolation state of being alone and separation from others" ( [20], p. 1). Such feeling may lead to increased mortality and other health risks [21]. For example, loneliness is linked to clinical diseases such as stroke and cardiovascular illness, and it is also a predictor of psychological symptoms such as depression, stress, and anxiety [22].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Nomophobia, Stress, and Loneliness on Smartphone Addiction among Young Adults during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Israeli Case Analysis

Zwilling

2022

Sustainability

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Technological development in recent times has dramatically changed the way people live, interact with, and consume information. Since the emergence of the first iPhone in January 2007 until today, mobile phones are used daily for a range of purposes. Using mobile phones for various purposes intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic due to isolation or government lockdown regulations. However, along with the advantages of smartphone usage there are many disadvantages such as smartphone addiction and continuous exposure to digital screens, behaviors known as PSU—problematic smartphone use. This study explores the impact of several variables on PSU: loneliness, the need for social interaction, sleep hours, fear of losing phone access (nomophobia), and stress among young adults in Israel. The variables are examined with respect to two time periods: 1. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns (defined as “T1”) and 2. Following the end of the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns (defined as “T2”). The results indicated that nomophobia, social affiliation, and sleep hours affect PSU. In addition, the indirect effect of the number of sleep hours on stress and PSU was found to be significant in T2 and in T1. The findings and their implications are discussed.

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“…Impacts of cognitive flexibility on inter-group conflicts, fear and bias. Recent studies support the notion that flexibility and cognitive empathy might be essential for alleviating social anxiety (Eslinger et al 2021;Clarke and Kiropoulos 2021). The brainimaging study of OFC-related anxiety showed that feelings of distress were maladaptively amplified when people misinterpreted the feelings, perspectives or intentions of others (Tei et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Social ties, fears and bias during the COVID-19 pandemic: Fragile and flexible mindsets

Tei

Fujino

2022

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

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Fears and social ties have been frequently discussed during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it is still insufficiently examined how people have developed or mitigated social ties, bias and inter-group conflicts caused by fear. This review examined relevant COVID-19 literature and the psychology of anxiety, distress and aggression to consider how these adverse behaviours might be neutralised by cognitive flexibility. The results showed that social ties function as both risk and protective factors. The importance of social ties was repeatedly described as alleviating loneliness; nevertheless, people also expressed stigma-related anxiety (fear of criticism via empathic distress) associated with peer pressures and hostile vigilantism. Social ties and empathy have strengthened human cohesion and helped reconcile relations, but they also reinforced unfavourable biased bonds, terror and rumours that benefited in-group members while discriminating against out-group individuals. Furthermore, cognitive flexibility may assuage these negative consequences through shifting attention and perspective. Context-adjusted viewpoints and reciprocal dialogues seem crucial. The subsequent mitigation of misunderstandings, fear-induced bias, and maladaptive distress appraisal may lead to more reasonable and flexible recognition of social ties. The significance of this conclusion is in its potential for implementing intervention programmes to reduce pandemic-induced fear, and it could help to address other relevant issues, such as refugee crises and displaced people, a phenomenon that is globally developing discrimination, stigma and polarised blaming. It is worth further investigating how flexibility and inter-group empathy help pursue humanitarianism.

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The neuroscience of social feelings: mechanisms of adaptive social functioning

Cited by 72 publications

References 337 publications

Neural representation of the parent–child attachment from infancy to adulthood

Neural representation of the parent–child attachment from infancy to adulthood

The Impact of Nomophobia, Stress, and Loneliness on Smartphone Addiction among Young Adults during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Israeli Case Analysis

Social ties, fears and bias during the COVID-19 pandemic: Fragile and flexible mindsets

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