Lonely People Process the World in Their Own Way
ロシアの作家で哲学者のレフ・トルストイは、『アンナ・カレーニナ』の冒頭の一文を書いたとき、何かを思いついたのかもしれない。「幸せな家族はみな似ている。不幸な家族はそれぞれ、それなりに不幸である。」(English) The Russian writer and philosopher Leo Tolstoy may have been onto something when he wrote the opening line of Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its way."
Lonely People Process the World in Their Own Way
A recent study suggests that the brains of people who are not lonely are alike in how they process information. However, lonely people process the world in their own idiosyncratic way.
Being lonely is shown in copious research to be detrimental to well-being. People often report feelings of not being understood by others. The United States Surgeon General's office referred to the growing number of adults suffering loneliness as a public health crisis.
Elisa Baek, assistant professor of psychology at USC Dornsife, and her team researched what contributes to feelings of disconnection and being misunderstood. They took images of the brains of 66 first-year college students while they watched video clips from a diverse range of topics.
The students completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale to measure their subjective feelings of feeling lonely and socially isolated before being scanned. They were separated into a lonely group and those not experiencing loneliness.
The researchers discovered that the brain processing patterns of lonely people were more dissimilar and idiosyncratic. This is significant because it means that lonely people differ from each other. This makes social connections even more difficult for them.
It may be that the idiosyncratic processing in lonely individuals is a result of loneliness or may be the cause of loneliness. Baek wants to find out what situations lonely individuals process differently and research people who have friends, are socially active, and still feel lonely.
//New words//
idiosyncratic: unusual and particular to a person or thing
His teaching methods are idiosyncratic but successful.
detrimental: causing harm or damage
Their decision could be detrimental to the future of the company.
subjective: based on your ideas or opinions rather than facts and therefore sometimes unfair
I find him very attractive, but I realize it's subjective.
isolated: feeling unhappy because of not seeing or talking to other people
Working at home was making her feel increasingly isolated.
Scan: to use a machine to put a picture of a document into a computer or to take a picture of the inside of something
Volunteers' brains were scanned while they looked at the pictures.
//Questions//
1
What did the study suggest about how the brains of people who are not lonely process information?
Answer
It suggested that the brains of people who are not lonely are alike in how they process information.
Reason
(1st Paragraph) A recent study suggests that the brains of people who are not lonely are alike in how they process information.
2
How does being lonely affect well-being?
Answer
Being lonely is detrimental to well-being.
Reason
(2nd Paragraph) Being lonely is shown in copious research to be detrimental to well-being.
3
Why is the researchers' discovery significant?
Answer
It's because it means that lonely people differ from each other.
Reason
(5th Paragraph) This is significant because it means that lonely people differ from each other.
//Discussions//
Q1
Do you think you could feel lonely among other people? Why or why not?
-> Yes, I think there is.
Because when you are alone, you may feel lonely, but you can give it up.
However, I think it can damage your heart if you feel lonely even though you are with many people.
This is because you will become aware of your lacking parts and fear being unable to escape from them even though you want to run them.
Q2
Do you think it is good to be unique? Please share your thoughts.
-> Yes, I think it's a good thing.
In recent years, it can be said that Japan has become relatively tolerant of being unique.
However, in Japan, it is still easy to accept people who have the same opinion or behave the same way as others, and there is a strong tendency to avoid people with differences.
If you are successful with a strong personality, you must have the humility to owe it to others and impeccably great character and behaviour.
Q3
Do you think loneliness is a health crisis? Please explain.
-> Yes, people never live alone.
Putting aside whether we like it or not, we have no choice but to help each other and live.
Even if you don't have money, you can live with someone who can help you, such as family, friends, and pets.
We need both solitude and friendship.
Q4
Do you think the social connection is meaningful? Please discuss.
-> We must connect with society through work, volunteering, family, and friends.
Because we want to be needed and want money and pride.
We need something to live for other than eating and sleeping.
Q5
Do you think lonely people can change how they feel? Please share your thoughts.
-> Yes, humans can change at any time.
Engaging in new hobbies, societies, or volunteering can help you meet new people.
No matter how much AI and online technology advances, human-to-human communication will always be necessary.
Q6
Do you think there are more lonely people now than in the past? Please share your thoughts.
> Yes, the more telecommuting and online technology advances, the more lonely we can become.
For the same reason that the more social networks you have, the more lonely you feel.
Even though we live in such a convenient world, basic human emotions remain the same.
Lonely People Process the World in Their Own Way
https://nativecamp.net/textbook/page-detail/2/20604
Lonely people process the world. Differently, the study finds
A)
The Russian writer and philosopher Leo Tolstoy may have been onto something when he wrote the opening line of Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its way."
A recent study published in Psychological Science and led by a scholar now at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences suggests that people who are not lonely are all alike when it comes to their brains processing information. Still, every lonely person distinctively processes the world.
B)
Copious research shows that loneliness is detrimental to well-being and is often accompanied by self-reported feelings of not being understood by others.
A recent report from the United States Surgeon General's office referred to loneliness as a public health crisis in reaction to the growing number of adults suffering from this condition. Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately half of U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness.
C)
Loneliness is idiosyncratic
While a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA, Elisa Baek, assistant professor of psychology at USC Dornsife, sought to understand better what contributes to such feelings of disconnection and misunderstanding.
Baek and her team used a neuroimaging technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the brains of 66 first-year college students. At the same time, they watched a series of video clips. The videos ranged in topic from sentimental music videos to party scenes and sporting events, providing various scenarios for analysis.
D)
Before being scanned, the participants, aged 18 to 21, were asked to complete the UCLA Loneliness Scale, which measures a person's subjective feelings of loneliness and social isolation.
Based on the survey results, the researchers divided the participants into two groups: lonely and "nonlonely" (those not experiencing loneliness). They then scanned each participant's brain using fMRI as the participant watched the videos.
E)
Comparing the brain imaging data between the two groups, the researchers discovered that lonelier individuals exhibited more dissimilar and idiosyncratic brain processing patterns than their nonlonely counterparts.
F)
This finding is significant because it reveals that neural similarity, which refers to how similar the brain activity patterns of different individuals are, is linked to a shared understanding of the world.
This shared understanding is essential for establishing social connections. People who suffer from loneliness are not only less similar to society's norm of processing the world, but each lonely person differs in unique ways, as well. That uniqueness may further impact feelings of isolation and lacking social connections.
G)
Baek said, "It was surprising that lonely people were even less similar." The fact that they don't find commonality with lonely or nonlonely people makes achieving social connections even more difficult.
Loneliness isn't about having or not having friends
So, does idiosyncratic processing in lonely individuals cause loneliness, or is it a result of loneliness?
H)
The researchers observed that individuals with high levels of loneliness -; regardless of how many friends or social connections they had -; were more likely to have distinctive brain responses.
This raised the possibility that being surrounded by people who see the world differently from oneself may be a risk factor for loneliness, even if one socializes regularly with them.
I)
The study also suggests that social connections or disconnections fluctuate over time; it may influence how an individual processes the world idiosyncratically.
Looking forward, Baek said she is interested in examining people who have friends and are socially active but still feel lonely. In addition, the researchers are looking at what particular situations lonely individuals process differently.
For example, do lonely people show idiosyncrasies when processing unexpected events or ambiguous social contexts in which things can be interpreted differently?