Author: Arnold AJ1,2, Winkielman P1,3, Dobkins K1
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.
<sup>2</sup>Department of Psychology, Knox College, Galesburg, IL, United States.
<sup>3</sup>Department of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.
Conference/Journal: Front Psychol.
Date published: 2019 Nov 26
Other:
Volume ID: 10 , Pages: 2589 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02589. eCollection 2019. , Word Count: 180
Interoception - the process of sensing bodily signals - has gained much interest in recent years, due to its role in physical and mental well-being. Here, we focus on the role of interoception in social connection, which is a relatively new and growing research area. Studies in this area suggest that interoception may help in appraising physiological signals in social situations, but also that (challenging) social situations may reduce interoceptive processing by shifting attention from internally- to externally- focused. We discuss potential mechanisms for the influence of interoception on social connection and highlight that flexibility in engaging interoception in social situations may be particularly important. We end with a discussion of loneliness - an extreme case of poor social connection, which is associated with physiological decline and increased mortality risk, and propose that interoceptive dysregulation is involved. We suggest that interventions aimed to improve interoceptive abilities, such as mindfulness-based meditation practices, may be key for alleviating loneliness and improving social connection.
Copyright © 2019 Arnold, Winkielman and Dobkins.
KEYWORDS: emotion; health; interoception; loneliness; social cognition; social connection
PMID: 31849741 PMCID: PMC6901918 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02589