SOC SCI H1F Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: John T. Cacioppo, Elite, Married People
21 Feb 2017
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LECTURE 12
February 16, 2017
Discontent Related to Loneliness
• Loneliness is defined as a subjective state referring to a perceived lack of companionship
o Loneliness is not to be confused with being alone
▪ As we have reviewed, solitude can provide an intermission from the
stresses of life as well as to afford the opportunity for self-reflection
o Loneliness is a disquieting feeling
▪ Not only can it be psychologically uncomfortable, it is also dangerous to
physical health
• Chronic loneliness has been linked to:
o Elevated levels of inflammation in the body
o Increases in the stress hormone, epinephrine
o Disruption in the functioning of the immunity system
o Earlier onsets of dementia
• Loneliness is now well-represented in contemporary society as indicated by the
following data:
o In 1950, less than 10% of adults in America lived alone
▪ In 2010, that percentage increased to 27%
o Currently, for people over the age 45, 35% describe themselves as lonely
o In 1985, 10% of the population said they had no one to talk to regarding
confidential matters
▪ By 2004, that percentage has increased to 25%
o Single people living alone have twice the mortality rate of married people
o Overall, 20% of Americans describe themselves as lonely
• Human Replacements?
o (e.g.) A robot named Roxie (Roxy?)
The Role of Social Media
• A frequent question that has been asked pertains to what role social media has played
in the loneliness epidemic
o A cogent answer to this question has been provided by psychologist John
Cacioppo of the University of Chicago
o In his study, he determined whether loneliness, as measured by self-report
psychological tests, can be predicted by how much relative time people spent on
social media (e.g. Facebook) and how much time they devote to personal
interactions with other humans
▪ Cacioppo reported:
The greater the proportion of face-to-face contact interactions,
the less lonely you are. The greater the proportion of online
interactions, the lonelier you are.
o Upon further analysis, Cacioppo concluded that social media is neither the cause
of nor the cure for loneliness.
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▪ Those who are not lonely can use social media to expand opportunities
for face-to-face interactions
▪ However, those who are lonely find no remedy for their condition by
being active on social media
No Substitutions
• Psychologist Sherry Turkle has claimed that technology is serving up poor replacements
for authentic human relationships, as she explained in her book, Alone Together: Why
We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2011)
o Turkle wrote:
These days, insecure in our relationships and anxious about intimacy, we
look to technology for ways to be in relationships and protect ourselves
from them at the same time. The problem with digital intimacy is that it is
ultimately incomplete. The ties we form through the Internet are not, in
the end, the ties that bind. But they are the ties that preoccupy.
• Close attachments to other people require our investment and disclosure
o Personal relationships require integrity, trust, and dependability
• Turkle is worried that too much time spent on social media diverts us from cultivating
deep, lasting, human relationships
Why War?
• Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein initially became acquainted in 1926 having met in
Berlin. Although Einstein furtively blocked Freud from ever receiving a Nobel Prize, the
great phsiist reaied ordial ad iterested i Freud’s ideas, espeiall gie that
both had become pacifists following World War I
• In 1931, as the political situation in Europe grew more frightening, the League of
Nations asked Albert Einstein to select someone to exchange letters with regarding the
possibility of stopping war. Einstein chose Freud.
o The correspondence between Einstein and Freud was published in 1933, the
year Hitler came to power
o The resulting publication, the Einstein-Freud effort, entitled Why War? was
banned in Germany
Einstein’s Letter to Freud
• To begin the letter exchange, Einstein wrote to Freud a 4-page letter asking why war
occurs and what can be done to prevent it. In this regard, Einstein remarked:
Is there any way of delivering mankind from the menace of war? It is common
knowledge that modern science has come to mean a matter of life and death for
civilization as we know it.
• Einstein also observed that every major country has people who hinder the cause of
peace because they profit from war and the threat of war. Eisntein observed:
I have specially in mind that a small but determined group, active in every nation,
composed of individuals who, indifferent to social considerations and restraints,
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regard warfare, the manufacture and sale of arms, simply as an occasion to
advance their personal interests and enlarge their personal authority.
• Einstein then asked Freud to explain:
…ho is it possible for this small clique to bend the will of the majority, who
stand to lose and suffer by a state of war, to the service of their ambitions?
▪ This statement predates the statement by Eisenhower shown below
• In 1961, President Eisenhower, i his fareell address to the atio ehoed Eistei’s
concern about the power elite with his now famous statement:
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial
complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will
persist.
• Einstein provided his own answers for the cause of war and how to prevent it.
o First, Einstein concluded that the power elite of a nation are able to stir the
emotions of war without much effort because:
…a has ithi him a lust for hatred and destruction. In normal times
this passion exists in a latent state, it emerges only in unusual
circumstances, but it is an easy task to call it in play and raise it to the
power of a collective psychosis.
• Basiall, he’s endorsing an idea of the id
o Next, to stop war, Einstein proposed a Lockean type of social contract among the
nations of the world. This hypothesized union of nations must have the power to
settle disputes and enforce its decisions. Einstein proposed:
the setting up, by international consent, of a legislative and judicial body
to settle every conflict arising between nations. Each nation would
undertake to abide by the orders issued by this legislative body, to invoke
its decisions in every dispute, to accept its judgments unreservedly and to
carry out every measure the tribunal deems necessary for the execution of
its decrees.
• Eistei leaes out oe rah of Loke’s goeret, the
executive. Could this be a threat for government?
▪ It was clear that the League of Nations lacked the authority to deter the
nefarious ambitions of individual nations
▪ I do ot ko ith hat eapos World War III ill e fought, ut
World War IV ill e fought ith stiks ad stoes. – Einstein
Freud’s Return Letter to Einstein
• Freud wrote back to Einstein in a 12-page letter, much of which repeated the arguments
he made in Civilization and its Discontents. Freud then advanced the following
observation:
…it is a geeral priiple that oflits of iterest etee e are settled by the
use of violence.
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Document Summary
Increases in the stress hormone, epinephrine: disruption in the functioning of the immunity system, earlier onsets of dementia, loneliness is now well-represented in contemporary society as indicated by the following data: In 1950, less than 10% of adults in america lived alone. In 2010, that percentage increased to 27: currently, for people over the age 45, 35% describe themselves as lonely. The role of social media: a frequent question that has been asked pertains to what role social media has played in the loneliness epidemic, a cogent answer to this question has been provided by psychologist john. The greater the proportion of face-to-face contact interactions, the less lonely you are. No substitutions: psychologist sherry turkle has claimed that technology is serving up poor replacements for authentic human relationships, as she explained in her book, alone together: why. We expect more from technology and less from each other (2011: turkle wrote:
