Humans evolved to be social creatures probably because, for our ancient ancestors, being alone could be dangerous and reduce the odds of survival. Experts think loneliness may have emerged as a unique type of stress signal to prompt us to seek companionship. (View Highlight)
Research has shown that lonely people are hypersensitive to negative social words, like “disliked” or “rejected,” and to faces expressing negative emotions. What’s more, they show a blunted response to images of strangers in pleasant social situations, suggesting that even positive encounters may be less rewarding for them. In the brain, chronic loneliness is associated with changes in areas important for social cognition, self-awareness and processing emotions (View Highlight)