Social psychology - Page 5 of 29

The Social Epidemic That Doubles Depression And Anxiety Risk

It is linked to higher risk of self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

Young people feeling lonely are at twice the risk of mental health problems like depression and anxiety, research finds.

Loneliness is a modern epidemic among young as well as old, with those aged between 16 and 24-years old being the most lonely.

Lonely people were also at higher risk of self-harm and suicidal thoughts and they felt most pessimistic about their ability to succeed.

Dr Timothy Matthews, the study’s first author, said:

“It’s often assumed that loneliness is an affliction of old age, but it is also very common among younger people.

Unlike many other risk factors, loneliness does not discriminate: it affects people from all walks of life; men and women, rich and poor.”

For the study, over 2000 British young people were asked questions such as ‘how often do you feel you lack companionship?’ and ‘how often do you feel left out?’

They were also interviewed about their mental and physical health as well as their lifestyles.

Around 7% of young people said they were often lonely.

Dr Matthews said:

“Our findings suggest that if someone tells their GP or a friend that they feel lonely, that could be a red flag that they’re struggling in a range of other areas in life.

There are lots of community initiatives to try and encourage people to get together and take part in shared activities.

However, it’s important to remember that some people can feel lonely in a crowd, and the most effective interventions to reduce loneliness involve counselling to help individuals tackle negative patterns of thinking.”

While the study cannot tell us that loneliness is the cause of these problems, it does show how widespread the problem is.

Professor Louise Arseneault, study co-author, said:

“It’s important that we become comfortable talking about loneliness as a society.

People are often reluctant to admit that they feel lonely, because there is still a stigma attached to it. That in itself can be profoundly isolating.”

The study was published in the journal Psychological Medicine (Matthews et al., 2018).

The Simplest Way To Help Someone In Pain

It has incredible psychological and physiological power.

Holding someone’s hand is enough to reduce their pain and even synchronise breathing and heart rates, research finds.

Dr Pavel Goldstein, the study’s first author, said:

“The more empathic the partner and the stronger the analgesic effect, the higher the synchronization between the two when they are touching.”

The study is the latest in the area of interpersonal synchronisation.

This is how people’s physiological measures automatically synchronise to those who are around them.

People automatically synchronise their footsteps when walking together and mirror each other’s posture, studies have found.

It has even been shown that when people have a good rapport with each other their brain waves synchronise.

The new study was inspired by Dr Goldstein’s experience with his daughter’s birth:

“My wife was in pain, and all I could think was, ‘What can I do to help her?’ I reached for her hand and it seemed to help.

I wanted to test it out in the lab: Can one really decrease pain with touch, and if so, how?”

For the study couples were either sat together, not touching, sat together touching, or in different rooms.

Then the woman was subjected to some pain.

The results showed that just sitting together was enough to synchronise the couple’s heart rates and breathing.

However, the pain cut this synchronisation, unless the man was allowed to hold his partner’s hand.

Dr Goldstein said:

“It appears that pain totally interrupts this interpersonal synchronization between couples.

Touch brings it back.”

It is not yet clear exactly how holding hands is related to the pain-killing effect, Dr Goldstein said:

“It could be that touch is a tool for communicating empathy, resulting in an analgesic, or pain-killing, effect.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Goldstein et al., 2017).

This One Habit Is Ruining Your Social Life

Find out why you’re no longer enjoying time with friends.

Smartphones are killing the simple pleasure we can take from socialising.

Research finds that people enjoy socialising with friends and family more if they avoid using their smartphones.

Using smartphones during a dinner with friends led people to feel more distracted and to enjoy the experience less.

Surprisingly, people who used their smartphones during lulls in the conversation reported feeling more bored.

Score one point for old-fashioned conversation.

Mr Ryan Dwyer, the study’s first author, said:

“As useful as smartphones can be, our findings confirm what many of us likely already suspected.

When we use our phones while we are spending time with people we care about — apart from offending them — we enjoy the experience less than we would if we put our devices away.”

In the research 300 people went to dinner with friends and family at a restaurant.

Half were randomly assigned to keep their phones in their pocket, while the other half kept them on the table.

They were interviewed afterwards to see how much they had enjoyed the meal.

Mr Dwyer explained that people were slightly more bored with their phones out, which was surprising:

“We had predicted that people would be less bored when they had access to their smartphones, because they could entertain themselves if there was a lull in the conversation.”

Another study tested other situations by sending a group of over 100 people text messages five times a day to report how they were feeling and what they were doing.

Once again, people enjoyed socialising with others more if they were not using their phones as well.

Professor Elizabeth Dunn, study co-author, said:

“An important finding of happiness research is that face-to-face interactions are incredibly important for our day-to-day wellbeing.

This study tells us that, if you really need your phone, it’s not going to kill you to use it.

But there is a real and detectable benefit from putting your phone away when you’re spending time with friends and family.”

The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (Dwyer et al., 2017).

The Wonderful Human Behaviour That Is Highly Contagious

The contagious behaviour provides a significant boost to happiness.

Being nice to others is highly contagious, psychological research finds.

Someone who sees a person being prosocial is more motivated to perform their own act of kindness for another.

Things like running an errand for a neighbour, helping someone in the street or giving a present all tend to be imitated by others who see it.

An act of kindness can ultimately be tripled in value by people subsequently giving more and more.

Seeing other people benefit from kindnesses is an even more powerful motivator for our own prosocial behaviour than when we receive the kindness ourselves.

Nevertheless, acts of kindness are not wholly unselfish, they provide a small, but significant boost to happiness.

Indeed, helping others boost happiness more than helping yourself.

Cooperative behaviour is even more important right now, says Dr Haesung (Annie) Jung, the study’s first author:

“Just like the deadly virus, cooperative behavior can also be transmitted across people.

These findings remind the public that their behavior can impact what others around do; and the more individuals cooperate to stop the spread of the disease, the more likely others nearby will do the same.”

People do not just copy the prosocial behaviour they observe, though, said Dr Jung:

“We found that people can readily improvise new forms of prosocial actions.

They engaged in behaviors that were different from what they witnessed and extended help to different targets in need than those helped by the prosocial model.”

Asian countries have the strongest prosocial contagion effect, followed by European countries, then North America.

Modelling prosocial behaviour is important for tackling the pandemic, said Dr Marlone Henderson, study co-author:

“Many people may choose to avoid social distancing practices because they don’t think they’re likely to contract the virus or experience serious symptoms.

So, one of the best things we can do is frame recommended practices as prosocial actions.

By thinking of recommended practices as prosocial behavior, modeling then becomes a powerful tool for encouraging others to engage in such practices.”

The study was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin (Jung et al., 2020).