Loneliness Is Contagious

Loneliness is an emotional state everyone experiences. A person can be surrounded by people yet feel lonely. John Cacioppo, a psychologist at University of Chicago joined with social network scientists Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University and James Fowler of University of California, San Diego. They did a survey of over 4,500 volunteers to determine the effects of loneliness.

Research in neuroscience and social science has shown that loneliness is an emotional state that affects people individually. It is not necessarily a symptom of being friendless but is an indication of social health. Loneliness is often viewed as a sign of psychological illness, poor social skills, or interverted nature. People feed off social interactions; they grow, create, and encourage each other. Now research suggests loneliness has more affect on people then thought. Cacioppo believes that loneliness is a persistent condition. The latest study by these researchers, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and funded by the National Institute of Aging, examines the spread of loneliness. Christakis and Fowler have done studies showing emotional states and behavior can spread widely and rapidly through a society. One of their studies, the Framingham Heart Study, is an ongoing trial to identify risks for cardiovascular disease. Cacioppo used the same data set Christakis and Fowler have gathered from previous studies. The study on loneliness was a survey in the form of a questionnaire with over 4,500 participants. The results showed that loneliness spreads, that one lonely person could impact feelings of others in their social network. Cacioppo thinks lonely individuals think negatively about other people. Negative treatmen...

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... is proved by comparing results to work of other researchers, the same results are found. The method didn't allow consistency because the study was looking at change. Validity is ensured by using same participants of another study. There are references to other studies on loneliness.

Everyone experiences loneliness at times. Often people don't to be alone to feel lonely. A study by psychologist John Cacioppo and social network scientists Dr. Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler determined that loneliness spreads from person to person.

Works Cited

Park, Alice. "Feeling Alone Together: How Loneliness Spreads." TIME. 1 Dec. 2009. Web. 05 Feb. 2011. .

Schaefer, Richard T. "Sociological Research." Selected Materials from Sociology. 12th ed. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2010. 29-35. Print.