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As if our brains magically emerged from a billion years of evolution with complex mechanisms that did not help us survive... :) I tried (like a good nerd) to r
by PieterH 10y ago
As if our brains magically emerged from a billion years of evolution with complex mechanisms that did not help us survive... :)
I tried (like a good nerd) to reverse engineer all our emotions in my book "The Psychopath Code." Loneliness fell into my group of "Tribal Emotions" (thus evolved to help us form extended families), and here is how I defined it:
"Loneliness - the emotion of being disconnected. You feel physical pain in your intestines and chest when you see others enjoying themselves. You sleep lightly and wake often. Your immune system starts to slow and you start to get sick. Your metabolism slows down, yet you eat more often than usual. Your circulation slows, and you feel cold."
http://content.psychopathcode.com/chapter6.html http://content.psychopathcode.com/chapter6.html
- XVII 10y agovery interesting stuff you have written there, going to start reading it now :)
- EGreg 10y agoIndeed, a very interesting read! Can you list references or is this all original research? About the rule breakers and psychopaths - I think most people actually switch to reward/punishment reasoning for rule following when empathy and social feedback is lacking. For example, if you know that no one will get hurt (eg running a red light with no cars around) the reasoning switches primarily to risk/reward (are there cameras or cops?) and habits (mental shortcuts and pathways that have been reinforced). Most of our decisions are made out of habits trained on common situations, and only when the underlying assumptions are violated do we start re-evaluating the stories and heuristics we tell ourselves for our actions.
- PieterH 10y agoI'm sorry to say it's mostly original research, though I did do a lot of research into the studies people have done on the various emotions and particularly their physical manifestations. I did not keep references because I was lazy and generally don't do that (this is not academic work and I absolutely want to keep it readable for non-academics). Regarding rules, I suspect we apply different sets of rules in different situations. Running a red light breaks "would the cops catch me?" yet does not break "would my friends be angry with me?" I've not looked into habits much. They are obviously powerful shortcuts that save on cognitive workload.
- maga 10y ago>Loneliness - the emotion of being disconnected. You feel physical pain in your intestines and chest when you see others enjoying themselves. You sleep lightly and wake often. Your immune system starts to slow and you start to get sick. Your metabolism slows down, yet you eat more often than usual. Your circulation slows, and you feel cold. Is it some sort of a hyperbole or I really have to hate people and be physically sick to qualify as a lonely person according to psychiatrists?
- sridca 10y agoIt is well known that stress (which doesn't necessitate hating people; in fact, merely feeling lonely will do) weakens immune system. http://www.apa.org/research/action/immune.aspx http://www.apa.org/research/action/immune.aspx
- maga 10y agoThat's that, but I'd imagine that "feeling physical pain seeing others enjoying themselves" is something far more serious than just loneliness, maybe I misunderstand the term. You rise a valid point though, while often being objectively lonely and "disconnected" I seldom felt discomfort about it. That would explain good health marks.
- sridca 10y agoI took his "feel physical pain in your intestines and chest" to mean, in part, that "sinking feeling in the gut" which is due mainly to the stimulation of the Vagus Nerve[1]. These physical sensations follow the emotion (of loneliness) itself--an affective experience preceding, and triggering, the physical after-effects--which PieterH did not speak much about. I wonder why. [1] See https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bakbc/eli5_why_do_we_get_a_sinking_feeling_in_our/?st=isqofg18&sh=ab7034e7 https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bakbc/e...
- 888uuii 10y agoraises hand I don't feel loneliness in my gut; I feel it in my head.
- Aenima 10y agoI have spent a good part of my morning reading some of your material. Particularly some of your blog articles on hintjens.com. I am very glad I was able to find your content. It is thought provoking to say the least. I hope I will be able to find more content from you in the future. Good luck and thank you.
- keyboardhitter 10y agoJust began reading and got sucked in for two hours - great work here, Pieter.
- PieterH 10y agoYeah, sorry about the sucking in effect... :-) Sometimes I go back and start reading my stuff and get lost for hours again.
- mrlatinos 10y agoThanks for sharing!