The DOI matches its Crossref record; 157 of the 159 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 133 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior
Open accessAbstract
Social Safety Theory hypothesizes that developing and maintaining friendly social bonds is a fundamental organizing principle of human behavior and that threats to social safety are a critical feature of psychological stressors that increase risk for disease. Central to this formulation is the fact that the human brain and immune system are principally designed to keep the body biologically safe, which they do by continually monitoring and responding to social, physical, and microbial threats in the environment. Because situations involving social conflict, isolation, devaluation, rejection, and exclusion historically increased risk for physical injury and infection, anticipatory neural–immune reactivity to social threat was likely highly conserved. This neurocognitive and immunologic ability for humans to symbolically represent and respond to potentially dangerous social situations is ultimately critical for survival. When sustained, however, this multilevel biological threat response can increase individuals’ risk for viral infections and several inflammation-related disease conditions that dominate present-day morbidity and mortality.
Overview
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Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
Social Safety Theory proposes that forming and maintaining friendly social bonds is a fundamental organizing principle of human behavior, and that threats to social safety are key psychological stressors that increase disease risk. It integrates immune, neural, and neuroimmune evidence to argue that social threat engages conserved inflammatory responses that, when sustained, contribute to viral infections and inflammation-related disease.
Key findings
- Social safety and social integration are linked to better health: a meta-analysis of 148 studies and 308,849 participants followed for an average of 7.5 years found being socially well integrated was associated with a 91% increase in odds of survival (OR = 1.91; 95% CI [1.63, 2.23]); another meta-analysis of 41 studies and 73,037 participants found lower inflammatory markers TNF-α, IL-6, CRP, and fibrinogen (Zr = −0.076; 95% CI [−0.11, −0.04]).
- Social threat predicts mortality and morbidity: adjusted mortality odds were 1.26 for low socioeconomic status (95% CI [1.21, 1.32]), 1.26 for perceived loneliness (95% CI [1.04, 1.53]), 1.29 for social isolation (95% CI [1.06, 1.56]), and 1.32 for living alone (95% CI [1.14, 1.53]), translating to roughly 2.1 years of reduced life expectancy by age 40. Targeted rejection stressors hasten depression onset, promote suicidal ideation, alter inflammatory signaling, and accelerate biological aging as indexed by telomere length.
- Proposed mechanisms involve four neural networks (amygdala, mentalizing, empathy, mirror neuron) and four neural–immune pathways (sympathetic nervous system, HPA axis, vagus nerve, meningeal lymphatic vessels) that enable “social signal transduction”; cytokines are described as critical mediators affecting physiology, cognition, and behavior.
- Several moderators are proposed: genetics (e.g., OPRM1 rs1799971, IL6 −174G>C), sleep, childhood microbial environment, diet/adiposity, birth cohort, air pollution, and self-harm. For example, parental absence predicted 47% higher CRP in young adulthood for those with low infancy animal-feces exposure versus 17% lower CRP for those with high exposure; PM2.5 <12 μg/m3 was associated with a 13.6% increase in all-cause mortality (HR = 1.136; 95% CI [1.131, 1.141]).
Methods
- Design: conceptual/theoretical review and theory-building paper; it proposes Social Safety Theory and reviews evidence for its three main tenets.
- Data or sample: no primary sample or new empirical data are reported; it synthesizes existing literature from anthropology, psychology, sociology, epidemiology, and public health, including cited meta-analyses, cohort studies, and experimental studies.
- Main analysis: narrative integration of prior stress theories, immune system function, social brain networks, neural–immune communication, and evidence for social safety and threat effects; no systematic review search or quality-appraisal methods are stated.
Limitations
- Stated in the paper: stress research lacks consensus on definitions and on which social-environmental adversities are most deleterious; epidemiologic studies are not designed to discern what about social threat is most harmful; no studies have examined within-person associations between nonsuicidal self-injury, inflammation, and social safety/threat; acetaminophen is the only biologically informed strategy listed and is far from accepted; future longitudinal studies are needed.
- Evident from the text: as a narrative review, it does not systematically search or appraise evidence or directly test the theory as a whole; causal and mechanistic claims rely on cited studies, and several proposed moderators (e.g., birth cohort, air pollution, self-harm) are presented as needing future research.
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Claims the paper makes
104 Not checked yet · 32 Own interpretation · 10 No basis given
In the paper
“being exposed to sustained social threat characterized by verbal attacks, social exclusion, devaluation, and aggression heightens inflammatory reactivity to social stress (Giletta et al. 2018)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Giletta et al. 2018
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Sleep disturbance (e.g., difficulty falling or staying asleep, nonrestorative sleep, early-morning awakening) is a strong predictor of both inflammation-related disease risk and all-cause mortality (Irwin 2019).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Sleep
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Irwin 2019
boostedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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In the paper
“it can promote anger, procrastination, aggression, and withdrawal as well as a variety of externalizing behaviors, such as fighting, cursing, cheating, rule breaking, and stealing (Leary 2001).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Leary 2001
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“socioeconomic status and subjective social status, which are strong predictors of all-cause mortality (see Adler & Rehkopf 2008, Muscatell et al. 2018).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 2: Social Safety Is Beneficial for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Adler & Rehkopf 2008
- Not checked yetcites Muscatell et al. 2018
boostedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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In the paper
“29% for social isolation (OR = 1.29; 95% CI [1.06, 1.56])”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Holt-Lunstad et al. 2015
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“this SNS/βAR-driven IL6 gating effect on mortality was evident only for inflammation-related causes of death—namely, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Genetics
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cole et al. 2010
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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In the paper
“26% for low socioeconomic status (OR =1.26; 95% CI [1.21, 1.32])”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Stringhini et al. 2017
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“these so-called targeted rejection stressors hasten onset of depression (Slavich et al. 2009)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Slavich et al. 2009
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“32% for living alone (OR = 1.32; 95% CI [1.14, 1.53])”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Holt-Lunstad et al. 2015
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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In the paper
“having a socially safe relationship characterized by a stable sense of emotional security was associated with a 34% lower hazard of death during the 7-year study period (Lutgendorf et al. 2012).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 2: Social Safety Is Beneficial for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Lutgendorf et al. 2012
plaincorrelationaln = 168- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- It may state two separate claims as one. 48
- Probably not a substantial claim. 16
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None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“individuals with greater social safety exhibit better outcomes in the context of acute myocardial infarction (Mookadam & Arthur 2004), amputation (Hawkins et al. 2016), acquired brain injury (Jones et al. 2011), substance dependence treatment (Haslam et al. 2019), HIV/AIDS (van Luenen et al. 2018), stroke (Haslam et al. 2008), and heart disease and cancer (Valtorta et al. 2016).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 2: Social Safety Is Beneficial for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Mookadam & Arthur 2004
- Not checked yetcites Hawkins et al. 2016
- Not checked yetcites Jones et al. 2011
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Whereas G allele carriers were twice as likely to meet criteria for major depressive disorder following a recent severe targeted rejection life event (e.g., because they exhibit less opioid receptor expression and signaling efficiency), A/A homozygotes were completely unaffected by such stress.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Genetics
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Slavich et al. 2014
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“with up to 48% of adults reporting at least some sleep complaints, it is especially prevalent among persons exposed to stressors that threaten social safety, such as interpersonal violence and aggression (Gallegos et al. 2019).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Sleep
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Gallegos et al. 2019
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“social safety is associated with greater occupational and scholastic achievement, perseverance, and productivity (Holt-Lunstad 2018, Strayhorn 2018) as well as with more volunteering and fewer sick days (Babey et al. 2019).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 2: Social Safety Is Beneficial for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Holt-Lunstad 2018
- Not checked yetcites Strayhorn 2018
- Not checked yetcites Babey et al. 2019
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“greater daily experiences of social threat (e.g., arguments with parents, family members, teachers, or friends; punishment; being insulted or threatened) interacted with shorter sleep duration to predict reduced expression of 511 genes and increased expression of 1,894 genes including several that promote inflammatory activity, such as TNF, IL1RAP, IL2RB, and IL15RA.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Sleep
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Chiang et al. 2019
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
In the paper
“These social-environmental effects translate into a rather striking reduced life expectancy of around 2.1 years by age 40, thus exceeding the mortality risk associated with high alcohol intake, obesity, and hypertension (Stringhini et al. 2017).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Stringhini et al. 2017
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Social safety is also related to practicing better health behaviors, which in turn predicts numerous behavioral and health-related outcomes including longevity (Umberson et al. 2010).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 2: Social Safety Is Beneficial for Human Health and Behavior
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Umberson et al. 2010
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“For individuals exposed to low levels of animal feces during infancy, those who experienced a core threat to social safety in the form of prolonged parental absence during childhood (e.g., resulting from divorce, separation, or death) exhibited 47% higher CRP levels in young adulthood relative to their no-stress counterparts.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Childhood Microbial Environment
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites McDade et al. 2013
plaincorrelationaln = 1,622- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
In the paper
“experiences of social threat can increase gut permeability, which enables bacteria to cross the epithelial barrier and activate a mucosal immune response that changes the microbiome, upregulates HPA axis and inflammatory activity, and heightens experiences of social threat”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Diet
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Dinan & Cryan 2012
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“high-fat diets cause compositional changes in the microbiome that heighten neuroendocrine reactivity and inflammatory activity, which in turn induce anxiety, hypervigilance, and experiences of social threat.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Diet
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Dinan & Cryan 2012
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“approximately 33% of women report having experienced lifetime partner or nonpartner physical violence, or nonpartner sexual violence (OECD 2011).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Birth Cohort
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites OECD 2011
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“NSSI is more common in people who have experienced major threats to social safety, such as emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, thus making social threat a key risk factor for NSSI (Nock 2009, Stewart et al. 2019).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Self-Harm
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Nock 2009
- Not checked yetcites Stewart et al. 2019
boostedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Diet strongly affects the bacterial composition of the microbiota that can in turn shape experiences of social safety and threat by influencing the brain–gut–microbiome axis, which includes the CNS, neuroendocrine and neuroimmune systems, autonomic nervous system, enteric nervous system, and intestinal microbiota (Dinan & Cryan 2012).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Diet
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Dinan & Cryan 2012
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“it was the participants who grew up in an urban environment who exhibited the greatest TSST-induced increases in IL-6.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Childhood Microbial Environment
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Böbel et al. 2018
plaincorrelationaln = 40- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.
In the paper
“Exposure to fine PM ≤2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (i.e., PM2.5) is especially harmful because these particles can be inhaled, enter the circulation, and reach the brain, where they influence serotonergic and dopaminergic activity and affect brain structure, function, and plasticity.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Air Pollution
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Olvera Alvarez et al. 2018
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Across 35 countries, total fertility rates have dropped from an average of 2.7 children/woman in 1970 to 1.7 children/woman in 2009, leading to a corresponding decline in average household size and fewer available familial bonds.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Birth Cohort
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites OECD 2011
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“obesity shifts this immunologic stance toward a type 1 or T helper 1 state in which proinflammatory (i.e., M1-polarized) macrophages accumulate and secrete large amounts of different cytokines, including IL-1β and TNF-α, under conditions of psychological stress (Reilly & Saltiel 2017).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Diet
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Reilly & Saltiel 2017
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“NSSI has a lifetime prevalence of up to 23% in adolescents and 4% in adults”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Self-Harm
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Nock 2009
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“UNICEF (2014) estimated that across 62 countries, approximately 70% of children 2–14 years old have experienced psychological threats to social safety, such as verbal aggression, intimidation, humiliation, or ridicule.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Birth Cohort
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites UNICEF 2014
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“birth month has been found to independently predict longevity in several studies, with such effects being attributed to seasonal differences in the availability of healthy foods during pregnancy (which is generally better during spring and summer months) and to differences in infants’ likelihood of exposure to inflammation-promoting pathogens (which is generally worse in autumn and winter months)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Birth Cohort
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Doblhammer & Vaupel 2001
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“threats to social safety are a critical feature of psychological stressors that increase risk for disease”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > Abstract
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“DAMPs are now recognized as a key promoter of systemic chronic inflammation, meaning that they may be especially relevant for understanding how life stress exerts persistent effects on human health, behavior, and age-related disease risk (i.e., in the absence of infection) (see Furman et al. 2019)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM > Innate and Adaptive Immunity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Furman et al. 2019
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“APCs migrate from the infection site to local lymph nodes where they present antigen peptides to T helper cells, resulting in the release of several cytokines including IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) (Slavich 2020)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM > Innate and Adaptive Immunity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Slavich 2020
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“This type of innate immune response can occur in the absence of a pathogenic infection, which is why some have called it sterile inflammation, and it plays a critical role in helping individuals recover from tissue damage sustained during physical injury or bodily trauma (Crişan et al. 2016)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM > Innate and Adaptive Immunity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Crişan et al. 2016
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“there is little agreement about the types of social-environmental adversity that are most deleterious and no consensus regarding the social-psychological characteristics that make particular stressors stressful (Cohen et al. 2019, Epel et al. 2018)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > INTRODUCTION
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cohen et al. 2019
- Not checked yetcites Epel et al. 2018
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The primary goal of the immune system, in turn, is to keep the body biologically safe and protected from these foreign invaders and from physical injuries that could cause illness or death if left unaddressed (Slavich & Irwin 2014)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Slavich & Irwin 2014
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Social Safety Theory hypothesizes that developing and maintaining friendly social bonds is a fundamental organizing principle of human behavior”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > Abstract
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“DAMPs can bind to and activate PRRs, especially TLR2 and TLR4, and in turn initiate a very rapid inflammatory response that is characterized by NF-κB-mediated increases in several inflammatory cytokines, especially IL-1β (Schaefer 2014)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM > Innate and Adaptive Immunity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Schaefer 2014
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“the body engages the evolutionarily younger, 450-million-year-old adaptive immune system (Travis 2009). Compared with the innate immune response, which is nonspecific and occurs quickly, adaptive immunity develops over several days and involves the proliferation of microbial-specific lymphocytes that neutralize or eliminate microbes based on an immunological memory”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM > Innate and Adaptive Immunity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Travis 2009
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“these theories are largely based on behavioral and clinical data, with researchers in turn assuming how different stressors might affect underlying biological processes”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LIFE STRESS > Conceptual Conflict and Confusion
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“these formulations provide very different, largely nonoverlapping explanations for why certain stressors are most impactful”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LIFE STRESS > Conceptual Conflict and Confusion
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“if the immunologic threat involves an intracellular pathogen (e.g., virus), then TLRs activate the transcription factors NF-κB, ATF2–c-Jun, interferon-regulatory factor 3, and interferon-regulatory factor 7, which induce antiviral immune response genes, particularly type I interferon genes”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM > Innate and Adaptive Immunity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Kawai & Akira 2006
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“The innate immune system dates back to the origin of multicellularity and provides humans with an extremely rapid, highly conserved immunologic defense response that gets activated under conditions of microbial infection and tissue damage (Travis 2009)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM > Innate and Adaptive Immunity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Travis 2009
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“These vessels help drain macromolecules and excess fluid from the central nervous system (CNS). However, they also represent a physical path along which immune cells can travel from the CNS to the periphery”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > NEURAL–IMMUNE COMMUNICATION > Meningeal Lymphatic Vessels
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Multiple bidirectional pathways enable the brain to signal the peripheral immune system and vice versa during times of social threat. These pathways include the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, vagus nerve, and meningeal lymphatic vessels”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > NEURAL–IMMUNE COMMUNICATION
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“adversity can trigger increased arborization of SNS fibers in the lymph node, which expands the neural–immune regulatory pipeline and may promote neuro-inflammatory sensitization to adversity that sustains perceptions of social threat for months or years after an initial triggering event has passed (see Slavich & Irwin 2014)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Adaptive Versus Maladaptive Responsivity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Slavich & Irwin 2014
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“cytokines can affect threat and pain sensitivity, exploratory and pleasure-seeking behavior, ingestive behavior, sleep, learning, attention, memory, impulsivity, temporal focus, emotion regulation, executive function, and cognitive control (Larson & Dunn 2001, Shields et al. 2017)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Cytokines as Critical Mediators
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Larson & Dunn 2001
- Not checked yetcites Shields et al. 2017
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“adversity can lead to epigenetic reprogramming of innate immune cells (Crişan et al. 2016) and alter the hematopoietic output of these cells from the bone marrow (Hanke et al. 2012), skewing them toward a more proinflammatory state”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Adaptive Versus Maladaptive Responsivity
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Crişan et al. 2016
- Not checked yetcites Hanke et al. 2012
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“cortisol can also lead to increased inflammatory activity by priming heightened inflammatory reactivity, stimulating immune cell trafficking, and promoting glucocorticoid insensitivity/resistance (Sorrells et al. 2009)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > NEURAL–IMMUNE COMMUNICATION > Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Sorrells et al. 2009
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Each of these experiences threatens social safety in a different way and can therefore engage the social signal transduction pathways described above, leading to substantial changes in disease risk, cognition, and behavior”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Atop this list would be actual physical danger, such as being physically attacked, abused, or neglected. However, there are many other social circumstances a bit lower on the severity gradient that are also relevant, including social conflict, aggression, devaluation, discrimination, isolation, rejection, and exclusion (Slavich & Irwin 2014, Slavich et al. 2010a)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Slavich & Irwin 2014
- Not checked yetcites Slavich et al. 2010a
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Mounting an anticipatory inflammatory response to potential physical danger requires continually monitoring the extent to which the body is in a socially safe environment, and four neural networks support this capacity: the amygdala network, mentalizing network, empathy network, and mirror neuron system (Kennedy & Adolphs 2012)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > NEURAL NETWORKS REPRESENTING SOCIAL SAFETY
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Kennedy & Adolphs 2012
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Social threat is harmful for human health and behavior”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Current broad support for Social Safety Theory comes from several fields, including anthropology, psychology, sociology, epidemiology, and public health”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“humans have long inhabited a world filled with physical and microbial threats—including dangerous conspecifics, viruses, and bacteria—that can cause death and reduce reproductive success if not avoided or dealt with effectively”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Physical wounding threatens survival directly (e.g., through injury-induced bleeding) but also indirectly by enabling pathogens to enter the body through wounds created during social conflict”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Because the immune system cannot directly detect social circumstances that may increase risk for physical conflict or injury, it relies on the brain”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > NEURAL NETWORKS REPRESENTING SOCIAL SAFETY
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“These activations can occur intermittently—for example, when engaged by occasional negative automatic thoughts about a potential threat in the environment—but they can also become prolonged, mediated by one’s social safety schemas about the self, social world, and future”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Social Safety Schemas
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“immune cells care about physical and social safety, not about a person’s financial resources or the size of his or her social network”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 1: Humans Evolved to Foster Social Safety
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“a fundamental drive to develop friendly social bonds, and to mount a systemic inflammatory response to social cues historically associated with increased physical danger, was likely highly conserved”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“humans have a well-known affinity for those most like themselves and a tendency to be hostile toward strangers (Bloom 2013), which historically enhanced their reproductive success and helped ensure their survival (Silk 2007).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 1: Humans Evolved to Foster Social Safety
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Bloom 2013
- Not checked yetcites Silk 2007
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The resulting release of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α heightens threat sensitivity that can degrade experiences of social safety and increase perceptions of social threat.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Sleep
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“These beneficial effects are similar in magnitude to quitting smoking and exceed those associated with traditional risk factors for mortality, such as obesity and physical inactivity.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 2: Social Safety Is Beneficial for Human Health and Behavior
plaincorrelationaln = 308,849- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Evidence of natural selection for prosociality first emerged about 2.6 million years ago in the Paleolithic period and it drove human self-domestication, enabling people to live, hunt, and gather together in small bands (Henrich 2015)”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 1: Humans Evolved to Foster Social Safety
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Henrich 2015
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“whereas social safety confers numerous benefits, social threat can degrade mental and physical health, lead to a variety of negative behaviors, and increase risk for biological aging and early mortality”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > EVIDENCE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SAFETY THEORY > Tenet 3: Social Threat Is Harmful for Human Health and Behavior
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Together, these data provide strong converging evidence that relative to individuals who are raised in rural environments, those who grow up in urban environments exhibit greater inflammatory responses to acute social threat in addition to poorer immunoregulatory/anti-inflammatory capability following such threat”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Childhood Microbial Environment
boostedcorrelationaln = 20- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Physical threats are the most impactful types of stressors from this evolutionary perspective, but such experiences are followed closely by social threats that historically increased risk for possible isolation, conflict, or wounding.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > CONCLUSION
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
- Rests on an assumption: Over millennia, the cellular self evolved to monitor its surroundings, detect threats, and produce anticipatory biobehavioral responses that gave the greatest adaptive advantage.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“NSSI may thus represent a behavioral trigger that induces neuroinflammation, which exacerbates a person’s perceptions of social conflict, criticism, or exclusion, in turn leading to heightened emotional distress and an even greater propensity to engage in NSSI”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Self-Harm
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The resulting production of inflammatory cytokines increases neural threat sensitivity that can degrade perceptions of social safety and promote experiences of social threat (Zhang et al. 2010).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > FACTORS AFFECTING SOCIAL SAFETY > Self-Harm
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Zhang et al. 2010
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Life stress has been a notoriously messy construct with little agreement about what actually matters (Cohen et al. 2019, Malat et al. 2017, Monroe & Slavich 2020).”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > CONCLUSION
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cohen et al. 2019
- Not checked yetcites Malat et al. 2017
- Not checked yetcites Monroe & Slavich 2020
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If we ask the human brain and immune system, though, they will tell us that social safety and social threat lie at the heart of life’s most impactful experiences.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > CONCLUSION
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: unclear — It is unclear whether it could be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: Over millennia, the cellular self evolved to monitor its surroundings, detect threats, and produce anticipatory biobehavioral responses that gave the greatest adaptive advantage.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“To address these problems and begin to understand the true underlying structure of life stress, I propose that we need only look to our cellular selves, which evolved over millennia to monitor the surrounding environment, detect potential threats, and mount anticipatory biobehavioral responses that conferred the greatest adaptive advantage.”
§ Social Safety Theory: A Biologically Based Evolutionary Perspective on Life Stress, Health, and Behavior > CONCLUSION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Rests on an assumption: Over millennia, the cellular self evolved to monitor its surroundings, detect threats, and produce anticipatory biobehavioral responses that gave the greatest adaptive advantage.
The paper relies on this without support.
Sleep plays a central role in regulating biological processes that affect social cognition, health, and behavior.
“Sleep is a critical human behavior that plays a central role not just in everyday life but in regulating biological processes that affect social cognition, health, and behavior.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The benefit-to-cost ratio of the inflammatory response is greatest when it upregulates quickly and downregulates shortly after a threat has passed.
“Like other neural and physiological systems, the benefit-to-cost ratio of the inflammatory response is greatest when it upregulates quickly and then downregulates shortly after a threat has passed.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Objective characteristics of the social environment influence the extent to which people regard their surroundings as socially safe versus threatening.
“Because objective characteristics of the social environment influence the extent to which people generally regard their surroundings as socially safe versus threatening”
The paper relies on this without support.
Humans are embedded in a series of social safety circles that independently and interactively shape experiences of social safety and threat.
“humans are embedded in a series of social safety circles that independently and interactively shape moment-to-moment and lifelong experiences of social safety and threat (see Figure 2).”
The paper relies on this without support.
Over millennia, the cellular self evolved to monitor its surroundings, detect threats, and produce anticipatory biobehavioral responses that gave the greatest adaptive advantage.
“which evolved over millennia to monitor the surrounding environment, detect potential threats, and mount anticipatory biobehavioral responses that conferred the greatest adaptive advantage.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“The collective evidence linking systemic inflammation to the quality of social relationships and interactions is consistent with theory that threats to social safety (e.g., social conflict, isolation, rejection, exclusion) can undermine health (Slavich, 2020; also see Cole et al., 2015 for a related perspective on perceived social isolation and gene expression).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Slavich, G. M.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Slavich, George M.
- ORCID
- Slavich, George M.
- Venue
- Annual Review of Clinical Psychology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2020-05-07
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 265-295
- ISSN
- 1548-5943 (ISSN-L)
- 1548-5951
- PMC
- PMC7213777
- OpenAlex
- W3010515129
- Semantic Scholar
- d8142b2861b06dc7bd40175c1223b71e1205ed01
- Cited by
- 502
- References
- 159
- Citations by year
- 2026: 130 · 2025: 90 · 2024: 81 · 2023: 71 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 19
- FWCI
- 5.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annual Review of Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (K08 MH103443, 23958)
- National Institutes of Health (23958)
- National Institute of Mental Health (K08MH103443)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- social bonds, social danger, psychological stress, neuroimmune interactions, inflammation, viral infection, social rejection, social isolation, evolutionary psychology, disease risk, threat response
- MeSH terms
- Biological Evolution, Humans, Inflammation, Psychological Theory, Safety, Social Behavior, Stress, Psychological
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