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Evolutionary mechanisms for loneliness
Open accessAbstract
Robert Weiss (1973) conceptualised loneliness as perceived social isolation, which he described as a gnawing, chronic disease without redeeming features. On the scale of everyday life, it is understandable how something as personally aversive as loneliness could be regarded as a blight on human existence. However, evolutionary time and evolutionary forces operate at such a different scale of organisation than we experience in everyday life that personal experience is not sufficient to understand the role of loneliness in human existence. Research over the past decade suggests a very different view of loneliness than suggested by personal experience, one in which loneliness serves a variety of adaptive functions in specific habitats. We review evidence on the heritability of loneliness and outline an evolutionary theory of loneliness, with an emphasis on its potential adaptive value in an evolutionary timescale.
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“However, chronic loneliness poses potential risks due to its tendency to create a self-reinforcing loneliness loop where lonely persons become increasingly distrustful of others and anticipate negative relationships, and as a result, they would prefer to avoid future social interactions.85”
From A Longitudinal Study of Loneliness Before the End of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Trajectories, Predictors, and Impact on Chinese Adolescent Mental Health (2024) · cites this paper as [85]
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“Researchers have suggested that transient loneliness may serve an evolutionary purpose by prompting people to reestablish connections for the sake of survival and genetic continuity.85”
From A Longitudinal Study of Loneliness Before the End of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Trajectories, Predictors, and Impact on Chinese Adolescent Mental Health (2024) · cites this paper as [85]
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“The evolutionary perspective of loneliness proposed by Cacioppo and colleagues (2006;Cacioppo, Cacioppo, & Boomsma, 2014) presents loneliness as an adaptive signal, similar to hunger and thirst, that motivates one to alter behavior in a way that will increase survival.”
From Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality: A Meta-Analytic Review (2015) · cites this paper as Cacioppo, Cacioppo, & Boomsma, 2014
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“This model proposes that loneliness operates as an aversive signal designed to promote adaptation to the vulnerabilities of being alone and motivate reconnection32.”
From Neural mechanisms of social homeostasis (2019) · cites this paper as [32]
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“Evolutionary frameworks posit that social interactions are necessary toincrease thechancesofreproduction andsurvivalby providing a greater defensive capacity (Cacioppo, Cacioppo, & Boomsma, 2014; Cacioppo&Hawkley,2009).”
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“The inclusion criteria of the targeted population were: (1) age ≥ 60 years; (2) permanent resident; (3) not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD); (4) having clear awareness and can communicate with investigators without barriers, and (5) understood the contents of this survey and agreed to participate with voluntar…”
BackgroundInfluentialMalarkiewicz, P., Maksymowicz, S., & Libura, M. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19095081 · Cited by 8
“defines loneliness as “subjective distress resulting from a discrepancy between desired and perceived social relationships” [11].”
BackgroundYpsilanti, A., & Lazuras, L. (2022) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114571 · Cited by 8
“Cacioppo and colleagues (Cacioppo et al., 2014; Cacioppo and Hawkley, 2009) suggested that in social species, loneliness has adaptive value and serves as an early warning system that motivates people to reconnect with others and restore possibly broken or disrupted social relationships, which are vital for one’s survi…”
BackgroundDor-Haim, P. (2022) · Journal of Educational Administration · doi:10.1108/jea-11-2021-0204 · Cited by 8
Zhang, H., Valimaki, M. A., Li, X., Nan, J., Wu, S., Zeng, X., Duan, Y., & Feng, H. (2022) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067858 · Cited by 8
The helping older people engage (HOPE) study: Protocol & COVID modifications for a randomized trial
Orden, K. A. V., Conwell, Y., Chapman, B. P., Buttaccio, A., VanBergen, A., Beckwith, E., Santee, A. C., Rowe, J., Palumbos, D., Williams, G., et al. (2022) · Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications · doi:10.1016/j.conctc.2022.101040 · Cited by 8
“, thinking of oneself as useless) [12,17,18].”
BackgroundLoneliness Predicts a Preference for Larger Interpersonal Distance within Intimate SpacePreprint
Layden, E. A., Cacioppo, J. T., & Cacioppo, S. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/ujfsx · Cited by 9
Self-citation“It's day to day problems:” Experiences of people with aphasia who live alone
Hersh, D., Williamson, C., Brogan, E., & Stanley, M. J. (2024) · International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology · doi:10.1080/17549507.2024.2358830 · Cited by 9
“Loneliness is theorised to be an evolutionary response for humans’ innate need for social connection (Cacioppo et al., 2014).”
Grocott, B. B., Neta, M., Chen, F. S., & LeMoult, J. (2024) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2024.104603 · Cited by 10
Bucaktepe, P. G. E., Akgül, F., & Çelik, S. B. (2024) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-024-01880-w · Cited by 7
“According to the Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness (ETL), loneliness might have evolved as an aversive state just like hunger, thirst and pain, which serves to increase the likelihood of survival by promoting useful social connections [47, 48].”
BackgroundGruhl, K. R., Boucher, M., & Lacarte, S. (2020) · Australian Occupational Therapy Journal · doi:10.1111/1440-1630.12707 · Cited by 7
Loneliness and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress in older adults
Brown, E. G., Creaven, A., & Gallagher, S. M. (2022) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.14012 · Cited by 9
Bonfils, N. A., Aubin, H., Grall‐Bronnec, M., Caillon, J., Perney, P., Limosin, F., & Luquiens, A. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph191710806 · Cited by 7
““Loneliness” is separate from social isolation or solitude; it is a negative feeling that is a universal human experience arising from a discrepancy between the perceived and desired social connections [28,29].”
BackgroundLabonté, L. E., & Kealy, D. (2023) · Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic · doi:10.1521/bumc.2023.87.3.266 · Cited by 9
Acute isolation is associated with increased reward seeking and reward learning in human adolescents
Tomova, L., Towner, E., Thomas, K., Zhang, L., Palminteri, S., & Blakemore, S. (2025) · Communications Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44271-025-00306-6 · Cited by 6
“Reportson chronicloneliness,thesubjectivelyperceivedlackofsocialconnection 1 ,have shown that, across the world, adolescents are one of the age groups most affected by increasing levels of chronic loneliness 3 – 5 (although there is some heterogeneityin fi ndings 6 ).”
A Simmelian theory of structural loneliness
Donbavand, S. (2020) · Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour · doi:10.1111/jtsb.12263 · Cited by 9
Hylin, M. J., Watanasriyakul, W. T., Hite, N. J., McNeal, N., & Grippo, A. J. (2021) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113572 · Cited by 7
Strizhitskaya, O. Y., Petrash, M. D., Ралифовна, М. И., Vartanyan, G., & Shchukin, A. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18189889 · Cited by 8
“At the same time, Capiocco [4] argues that while the negative effects of loneliness are considerable, temporary periods of loneliness may also have some positive effects and serve for self-reflection and self-analysis.”
BackgroundTalk it Out: Teen Reactions to a Supportive Conversational Agent
Lopatovska, I., Turpin, O., Yoon, J. H., Brown, D., & Vroom, L. (2022) · Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/pra2.615 · Cited by 7
Soledad y convivencia intergeneracional: resignificar el cuido en el ciclo vital
Villanea, M. S., & Gómez, M. J. C. (2019) · Revista Reflexiones · doi:10.15517/rr.v98i2.34152 · Cited by 8
Zhang, Y., Zhu, Y., Huang, Z., & Long, L. (2024) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-024-06103-4 · Cited by 6
“Our findings go beyond the previous consensus that lonely workers alleviate loneliness by engaging in altruistic helping behaviors to increase belonging (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2009; DeWall et al., 2009; Lee & Shrum, 2012; Cacioppo et al., 2014, 2016; Gabriel et al., 2021 ).”
InfluentialLoneliness: A Scoping Review of Reviews From 2001 to 2023
Ell, T., Maehler, D. B., Repke, L., & Momeni, F. (2025) · The Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1080/00223980.2025.2462632 · Cited by 11
Mund, M., Maurer, L., Jeronimus, B. F., & Buecker, S. (2025) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2025.101574 · Cited by 7
The antecedents and consequences of workplace loneliness: A regulatory focus theory perspective
Chen, X., Bin, X. I. E., Jian, P. E. N. G., & Qi, N. I. E. (2022) · Advances in Psychological Science · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1042.2022.01463 · Cited by 6
“00 01 5v 1 2014）。（2）工作行为。职场孤独感对员工的工作绩效、组织公民行为、创新行为以及反生 产行为会产生影响。研究者普遍认为职场孤独感会降低工作绩效。Perlman 和 Joshi （1987） 发现孤独的员工需要花费额外的精力适应组织并影响他们对工作的关注，损害工作绩效。 Ozcelik 和 Barsade（2018）发现职场孤独感与员工绩效呈负相关，因为孤独的员工在同事眼 里比较有距离感，难以接近和配合。 Lam 和 Lau（2012）发现职场孤独感与组织公民行为 负相关。Peng 等（2017）发现职场孤独感与创新行为呈负相关。Promsri（2018）发现职场…”
Liu, S., Wegner, L., Haucke, M. N., Gates, J., Adam, M., & Bärnighausen, T. (2023) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/43036 · Cited by 5
“The mechanisms underlying loneliness are not well-understood [1,17].”
Elmer, T., Ram, N., Gloster, A. T., & Bringmann, L. F. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672231211469 · Cited by 6
“Having fewer social interactions may go hand-in-hand with perceiving a threat of social exclusion and loneliness (Cacioppo et al., 2014).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Cacioppo, J. T., Cacioppo, S., & Boomsma, D. I.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Cacioppo, John T.
- Venue
- Cognition and Emotion
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2013-09-25
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-21
- ISSN
- 0269-9931 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-0600
- PMC
- PMC3855545
- OpenAlex
- W2109338375
- Cited by
- 576
- References
- 127
- Citations by year
- 2026: 61 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 14.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Cognition & Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (P01AG018911, R37AG033590, R01AG034052, R01AG033590)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- loneliness, social isolation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biological Evolution, Humans, Loneliness, Psychological Theory
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