Support-Giving Is Associated With Lower Systemic Inflammation.

BACKGROUND: Support-giving has emerged as a health-relevant social behavior, such that giving more support is associated with better physical health. However, biological mechanisms by which support-giving and health are linked remain unclear. Whether support-giving uniquely relates to health relative to other psychosocial factors is also an open research question. PURPOSE: Two studies test the hypothesis that support-giving is uniquely (over-and-above other psychosocial factors) related to lower systemic inflammation, a biological correlate of health. METHODS: Cross-sectional associations of support-giving with markers of systemic inflammation (i.e., interleukin-6 [IL-6], C-reactive protein [CRP]) were examined in two independent samples of midlife adults (Study 1, n = 746; Study 2, n = 350). RESULTS: Consistent with hypotheses, giving to more social targets (to family and friends, and also volunteering for various causes), but not receiving support from similar targets, was associated with lower IL-6. In conceptual replication and extension with a different measure of support-giving, higher frequency of support-giving behavior was associated with lower IL-6, even after adjusting for social network size and individual differences in social desirability. There were no associations between support-giving and CRP in either sample. CONCLUSIONS: Future research needs to establish causality and directly test mechanistic pathways, but together, findings reaffirm the health-relevance of support-giving behavior and shed light on a promising biological mechanism by which such effects may occur.

Support-giving behavior and health are linked such that more support-giving is related to better health and longevity for the person giving. How such a link occurs, however, is an open question for research. Two cross-sectional studies test the hypothesis that support-giving behavior relates to lower systemic inflammation, a potential biological pathway linking supportive behavior with health. Results of Study 1 show that giving to more social targets (to family and friends, and also volunteering) is associated with lower inflammation. Receiving support was not associated with inflammation. In a replication and extension, Study 2 shows that a greater frequency of giving is also related to lower systemic inflammation, over and above the size of one's social network and individual differences in reporting socially desirable responses. Although more research is needed to establish whether support-giving causes systemic inflammation to change, the current findings highlight a promising pathway by which support-giving behavior benefits health.

Stress-Related Inflammation and Social Withdrawal in Mothers of a Child With Cancer: A 1-Year Follow-Up Study.

OBJECTIVE: Acute inflammation-induced sickness behavior involves changes in social behavior that are believed to promote recovery. Whether chronic inflammation can influence social behaviors in ways that promote recovery is unknown. In a sample of mothers of a child with cancer, this report explores the relationship between inflammation that accompanies the stress of diagnosis and changes in social network, cancer-related stress, and inflammation across 1 year. Three hypotheses tested whether a) initial levels of stress associate with initial levels of inflammation, b) initial levels of inflammation predict social network changes over time, and c) social network changes over time buffer changes in stress and inflammation over time. METHODS: Cancer-related stress (Impact of Events Scale), social network (social roles and contacts from the Social Network Inventory), and systemic inflammation (circulating interleukin [IL]-6) were assessed in 120 mothers three times after their child's cancer diagnosis: after diagnosis (T1), 6-month follow-up (T2), and 12-month follow-up (T3). RESULTS: Consistent with predictions, greater cancer-related stress after diagnosis (T1) was associated with higher IL-6 after diagnosis (T1; b = 0.014, standard error [SE] = 0.01, p = .008). In turn, higher IL-6 after diagnosis (T1) was associated with a decrease in social roles over time (T1 ➔ T3; B = -0.030, SE = 0.01, p = .041). Finally, dropping social roles over time (T1 ➔ T3) was associated with decreases in cancer-related stress (B = 25.44, SE = 12.31, p = .039) and slower increases in IL-6 (B = 1.06, SE = 0.52, p = .040) over time. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a first indication that chronic stress-related systemic inflammation may predict changes in social behavior that associate with stress recovery and slower increases in inflammation in the year after a major life stressor.

Resting (Tonic) Blood Pressure Is Associated With Sensitivity to Imagined and Acute Experiences of Social Pain: Evidence From Three Studies.

Social pain is a common experience that has potent implications for health. However, individuals differ in their sensitivity to social pain. Recent evidence suggests that sensitivity to social pain varies according to a biological factor that modulates sensitivity to physical pain: resting (tonic) blood pressure. The current studies extended this evidence by testing whether blood pressure relates to sensitivity to imagined (Study 1: N = 762, 51% female adults) and acute (Study 2, preregistered: N = 204, 57% female adults) experiences of social pain and whether associations extend to general emotional responding (Studies 1-3; Study 3: N = 162, 59% female adults). In line with prior evidence, results showed that higher resting blood pressure was associated with lower sensitivity to social pain. Moreover, associations regarding blood pressure and sensitivity to social pain did not appear to be explained by individual differences in general emotional responding. Findings appear to be compatible with the interpretation that social and physical pain share similar cardiovascular correlates and may be modulated by convergent interoceptive pathways.

Relationships Between Early Maternal Warmth and Social Connection: A Randomized Clinical Trial With Naltrexone.

OBJECTIVE: Early experiences of having received maternal warmth predict responses to opportunities to connect with others later in life. However, the understanding of neurochemical mechanisms by which such relationships emerge remains incomplete. Endogenous opioids, involved in social connection in both animals and humans, may contribute to this link. Therefore, the current study examined a) relationships between early maternal warmth and brain and self-report responses to novel social targets (i.e., outcomes that may promote social connection) and b) the effect of the opioid antagonist, naltrexone, on such relationships. METHODS: Eighty-two adult participants completed a retrospective report of early maternal warmth. On a second visit, participants were randomized to 50 mg of oral naltrexone (n = 42) or placebo (n = 40), followed by a magnetic resonance imaging scan where functional brain activity in response to images of novel social targets (strangers) was assessed. Approximately 24 hours later, participants reported on their feelings of social connection since leaving the scanner. RESULTS: In the placebo condition, greater early maternal warmth was associated with less dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, ventral striatum, and amygdala activity in response to images of novel social targets (r values ≥ -0.360, p values ≤ .031), and greater feelings of social connection (r = 0.524, p < .001) outside of the laboratory. The same relationships, however, were not present in the naltrexone condition. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight relationships between early maternal warmth and responses to the social world at large and suggest that opioids might contribute to social connection by supporting the buffering effects of warm early life experiences on social connection later in life.Trial Registration: Clinical Trials NCT02818036.

Neural Correlates of Giving Social Support: Differences Between Giving Targeted Versus Untargeted Support.

OBJECTIVE: Giving support contributes to the link between social ties and health; however, the neural mechanisms are not known. Giving support in humans may rely on neural regions implicated in parental care in animals. The current studies, therefore, assess the contribution of parental care-related neural regions to giving support in humans and, as a further theoretical test, examine whether the benefits of giving targeted support to single, identifiable individuals in need extend to giving untargeted support to larger societal causes. METHODS: For study 1 (n = 45, M (SD) age = 21.98 (3.29), 69% females), participants completed a giving support task, followed by an emotional faces task in the functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. For study 2 (n = 382, M (SD) age = 43.03 (7.28), 52% females), participants self-reported on their giving support behavior and completed an emotional faces task in the functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. RESULTS: In study 1, giving targeted (versus untargeted) support resulted in greater feelings of social connection and support effectiveness. Furthermore, greater septal area activity, a region centrally involved in parental care in animals, to giving targeted support was associated with less right amygdala activity to an emotional faces task (r = -.297, 95% confidence interval = -.547 to -.043). Study 2 replicated and extended this association to show that self-reports of giving targeted support were associated with less amygdala activity to a different emotional faces task, even when adjusting for other social factors (r = -.105, 95% confidence interval = -.200 to -.011). Giving untargeted support was not related to amygdala activity in either study. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the unique benefits of giving targeted support and elucidate neural pathways by which giving support may lead to health.

The Neurobiology of Giving Versus Receiving Support: The Role of Stress-Related and Social Reward-Related Neural Activity.

OBJECTIVES: There is a strong association between supportive ties and health. However, most research has focused on the health benefits that come from the support one receives while largely ignoring the support giver and how giving may contribute to good health. Moreover, few studies have examined the neural mechanisms associated with support giving or how giving support compares to receiving support. METHOD: The current study assessed the relationships: a) between self-reported receiving and giving social support and vulnerability for negative psychological outcomes and b) between receiving and giving social support and neural activity to socially rewarding and stressful tasks. Thirty-six participants (mean [standard deviation] age = 22.36 [3.78] years, 44% female) completed three tasks in the functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner: 1) a stress task (mental arithmetic under evaluative threat), b) an affiliative task (viewing images of close others), and c) a prosocial task. RESULTS: Both self-reported receiving and giving social support were associated with reduced vulnerability for negative psychological outcomes. However, across the three neuroimaging tasks, giving but not receiving support was related to reduced stress-related activity (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [r = -0.27], left [r = -0.28] and right anterior insula [r = -0.33], and left [r = -0.32] and right amygdala [r = -0.32]) to a stress task, greater reward-related activity (left [r = 0.42] and right ventral striatum [VS; r = 0.41]) to an affiliative task, and greater caregiving-related activity (left VS [r = 0.31], right VS [r = 0.31], and septal area [r = 0.39]) to a prosocial task. CONCLUSIONS: These results contribute to an emerging literature suggesting that support giving is an overlooked contributor to how social support can benefit health.

Exposure to an inflammatory challenge enhances neural sensitivity to negative and positive social feedback.

Inflammation, part of the body's innate immune response, can lead to "sickness behaviors," as well as alterations in social and affective experiences. Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines have been associated with increased neural sensitivity to social rejection and social threat, but also decreased neural sensitivity to rewards. However, recent evidence suggests that inflammation may actually enhance sensitivity to certain social rewards, such as those that signal support and care. Despite a growing interest in how inflammation influences neural reactivity to positive and negative social experiences, no known studies have investigated these processes in the same participants, using a similar task. To examine this issue, 107 participants were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or low-dose endotoxin, which safely triggers an inflammatory response. When levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were at their peak, participants were scanned using fMRI while they received positive, negative, and neutral feedback from an "evaluator" (actually a confederate) about how they came across in an audio-recorded interview. In response to negative feedback (vs. neutral), participants in the endotoxin condition showed heightened neural activity in a number of threat-related neural regions (i.e., bilateral amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) and a key mentalizing-related region (i.e., dorsomedial PFC), compared to placebo participants. Interestingly, when receiving positive feedback (vs. neutral), endotoxin (vs. placebo) led to greater neural activity in the ventral striatum and ventromedial PFC, regions often implicated in processing reward, as well as greater activity in dorsomedial PFC. Together, these results reveal that individuals exposed to an inflammatory challenge are more "neurally sensitive" to both negative and positive social feedback, suggesting that inflammation may lead to a greater vigilance for both social threats and social rewards.

The role of the ventral striatum in inflammatory-induced approach toward support figures.

Although considerable research has shown that inflammation leads to social withdrawal more generally, it is also possible that inflammation leads to social approach when it comes to close others. Whereas it may be adaptive to withdraw from strangers when sick, it may be beneficial to seek out close others for assistance, protection, or care when sick. However, this possibility has never been explored in humans nor have the neural substrates of these behavioral changes. Based on the role of the ventral striatum (VS) in responding to: (1) the anticipation of and motivation to approach rewarding outcomes and (2) viewing social support figures, the VS may also be involved in sickness-induced approach toward support figures. Thus, the goal of the present study was to examine whether inflammation leads to a greater desire to approach support figures and greater VS activity to viewing support figures. To examine this, 63 participants received either placebo or low-dose endotoxin, which safely triggers an inflammatory response. Participants reported how much they desired to be around a self-identified support figure, and viewed pictures of that support figure while undergoing an fMRI scan to assess reward-related neural activity. In line with hypotheses, endotoxin (vs. placebo) led participants to report a greater desire to be around their support figure. In addition, endotoxin (vs. placebo) led to greater VS activity to images of support figures (vs. strangers), and greater increases in inflammation (IL-6 levels) were associated with greater increases in VS activity. Together, these results reveal a possible neural mechanism important for sickness-induced social approach and highlight the need for a more nuanced view of changes in social behavior during sickness.

Attachment figures activate a safety signal-related neural region and reduce pain experience.

Although it has long been hypothesized that attachment figures provide individuals with a sense of safety and security, the neural mechanisms underlying attachment-induced safety have not been explored. Here, we investigated whether an attachment figure acts as a safety signal by exploring whether viewing an attachment figure during a threatening experience (physical pain) led to increased activity in a neural region associated with safety signaling, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), and corresponding reductions in pain. Female participants in long-term romantic relationships were scanned as they received painful stimuli while viewing pictures of their partner and control images (stranger, object). Consistent with the idea that the attachment figure may signal safety, results revealed that viewing partner pictures while receiving painful stimulation led to reductions in self-reported pain ratings, reductions in pain-related neural activity (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula), and increased activity in the VMPFC. Moreover, greater VMPFC activity in response to partner pictures was associated with longer relationship lengths and greater perceived partner support, further highlighting a role for the VMPFC in responding to the safety value of the partner. Last, greater VMPFC activity while viewing partner pictures was associated with reduced pain ratings and reduced pain-related neural activity. An implication of these findings is that, in the same way that stimuli that historically have threatened survival (e.g., snakes, spiders) are considered to be prepared fear stimuli, attachment figures, who have historically benefited survival, may serve as prepared safety stimuli, reducing threat- or distress-related responding in their presence.

Shared neural mechanisms underlying social warmth and physical warmth.

Many of people's closest bonds grow out of socially warm exchanges and the warm feelings associated with being socially connected. Indeed, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying thermoregulation may be shared by those that regulate social warmth, the experience of feeling connected to other people. To test this possibility, we placed participants in a functional MRI scanner and asked them to (a) read socially warm and neutral messages from friends and family and (b) hold warm and neutral-temperature objects (a warm pack and a ball, respectively). Findings showed an overlap between physical and social warmth: Participants felt warmer after reading the positive (compared with neutral) messages and more connected after holding the warm pack (compared with the ball). In addition, neural activity during social warmth overlapped with neural activity during physical warmth in the ventral striatum and middle insula, but neural activity did not overlap during another pleasant task (soft touch). Together, these results suggest that a common neural mechanism underlies physical and social warmth.

Recalling prior experiences with a close other can fulfill the need for social connection.

Humans need social connection to thrive, but how we fulfill this need is not well understood. Numerous theoretical perspectives propose that continual positive experiences with a close other fulfill the need for social connection. Despite popular acceptance for this notion, little research has investigated the consequences of having multiple experiences with a close other. As a first step toward this goal, the current studies assessed whether recalling prior experiences of social connection with a close other alters feelings of satisfaction toward the same person, the implications of such feelings for social desires outside of the lab (Study 1), and possible brain mechanisms related to fulfilling the need for social connection (Study 2). Consistent with hypotheses, recalling experiences increased feelings of satisfaction toward the close other, but not toward an acquaintance. Further, recalling prior experiences uniquely increased the desire for additional social interaction with the close other, compared with others in general. In Study 2, brain regions related to satiety-the ventral striatum (VS) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)-showed different patterns to recalling prior experiences with a single close other such that VS activity decreased over recalled experiences, while VMPFC activity remained stable. VMPFC activity, but not VS activity, to recalling experiences with a close other was associated with greater feelings of satisfaction. Together, results are consistent with the proposal that positive experiences, particularly with close others, satisfy the need for social connection. Implications for preventing feelings of social disconnection and maintaining social relatonships over time are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Inflammation selectively enhances amygdala activity to socially threatening images.

Although social withdrawal is a prominent symptom of sickness, the mechanisms associated with this behavioral change remain unclear. In animals, the amygdala is a key neural region involved in sickness-induced social withdrawal. Consistent with this, in humans, heightened amygdala activity to negative social cues is associated with social avoidance tendencies. Based on these findings, we investigated whether an experimental inflammatory challenge selectively increased amygdala activity to socially threatening images as well as whether this activity related to feelings of social disconnection. Thirty-nine participants were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or low-dose endotoxin, which increases inflammatory activity. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were assessed at 7 hourly time points via blood draws; self-reported feelings of social disconnection and physical sickness symptoms were assessed hourly as well. Two hours post-injection, participants underwent an fMRI procedure to assess amygdala reactivity during the presentation of socially threatening images (fear faces) as well as non-socially threatening images (guns), socially non-threatening images (happy faces), and non-social, non-threatening images (household objects). Endotoxin led to greater amygdala activity in response to socially threatening vs. all other types of images. No such differences were found for placebo participants. Additionally, increased amygdala activity in endotoxin participants during the viewing of socially vs. non-socially threatening images was associated with increased feelings of social disconnection. These findings highlight the amygdala as a neural region that may be important for sickness-induced social withdrawal. The implications of amygdalar involvement in sickness-induced social withdrawal are discussed.

Neural correlates of giving support to a loved one.

OBJECTIVE: Social support may benefit mental and physical well-being, but most research has focused on the receipt, rather than the provision, of social support. We explored the potentially beneficial effects of support giving by examining the neural substrates of giving support to a loved one. We focused on a priori regions of interest in the ventral striatum and septal area (SA) because of their role in maternal caregiving behavior in animals. METHODS: Twenty romantic couples completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session in which the female partner underwent a scan while her partner stood just outside the scanner and received unpleasant electric shocks. RESULTS: Support giving (holding a partner's arm while they experienced physical pain), compared with other control conditions, led to significantly more activity in the ventral striatum, a reward-related region also involved in maternal behavior (p values < .05). Similar effects were observed for the SA, a region involved in both maternal behavior and fear attenuation. Greater activity in each of these regions during support giving was associated with greater self-reported support giving effectiveness and social connection (r values = 0.55-0.64, p values < .05). In addition, in line with the SA's role in fear attenuation (presumably to facilitate caregiving during stress), increased SA activity during support giving was associated with reduced left (r = -0.44, p < .05) and right (r = -0.42, p < .05) amygdala activity. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that support giving may be beneficial not only for the receiver but also for the giver. Implications for the possible stress-reducing effects of support giving are discussed.

Prosocial and Positive Health Behaviors During a Period of Chronic Stress Protect Socioemotional Well-Being.

Behavior that helps, supports, or protects others-or prosocial behavior-has emerged as a health-relevant behavior that can promote the giver's well-being, yet whether prosocial behavior protects against the effects of a major, ongoing chronic stressor warrants further examination. Thus, in the context of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, we examined whether two types of behaviors-those enacted to prevent the spread of disease to the self and others (positive health behaviors) and those enacted to promote others' psychological and financial well-being (prosocial behaviors)-might protect well-being over time. Using a longitudinal survey method, 745 participants (M age = 62.87 years) reported their engagement in positive health behaviors, prosocial behaviors, and socioemotional well-being (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, loneliness) approximately two months into mandated lockdown orders in the USA. Three months later, participants again reported their well-being. Results showed that greater self-reported positive health behaviors (e.g., wearing a facemask, distancing from others) was related to decreased depressive symptoms over time, whereas greater self-reported prosocial behaviors (e.g., donating time or money, thanking an essential worker) was related to decreased loneliness over time. Neither behavior was related to anxiety symptoms. Together, results suggest that both doing things for the benefit of others and engaging in positive health behaviors protects well-being, even during times of chronic stress. Findings are however limited by the use of self-report measures. Future research should use experimental and behavioral approaches beyond self-report to verify findings. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00095-1.

American prejudice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the United States, anti-Asian sentiment has pervaded the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Could Americans' fear of contracting the virus relate to prejudice against Asian individuals? According to intergroup threat theory, prejudice increases toward groups of people when they are perceived as a likely cause of symbolic and/or real threat, including disease threat. We tested this perspective in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating the relationship between Americans' concern about contracting COVID-19 and their feelings toward individuals from multiple countries. Between May 12-14 2020, participants residing in the United States (N = 932) completed an online survey assessing their (1) perceived threat of COVID-19 infection, (2) feelings of warmth and coldness toward people in America, China, Italy, Japan, and Greece, and (3) trait-level prejudice. Perceived threat of COVID-19 infection differentially related to feelings toward American and Chinese nationals and was unrelated to feelings toward people from other countries assessed. Specifically, greater threat of infection was associated with less warmth toward individuals from China, an effect moderated by trait-level prejudice. That is, participants high (but not medium or low) in trait prejudice showed a significant relationship between threat of COVID-19 infection and reduced warmth toward Chinese individuals. Threat of infection also related to greater warmth and less coldness toward American nationals, consistent with prior work indicating that disease threats amplify ethnocentrism. Collectively, results suggest that perceived threat of COVID-19 infection may correspond with prejudice toward the national outgroup associated with the disease's origin (i.e., China), as well as national ingroup favoritism, among Americans prone to prejudice.

Neural correlates of attachment in adolescents with trauma: a preliminary study on frustrative non-reward.

Despite the proposed early life origins of attachment style and its implications for risk for psychopathology, little is known about its neurodevelopmental course. Adolescence represents a key transition period when neural substrates of emotion regulation and reward undergo dramatic maturational shifts. Thus, maladaptive coping strategies associated with insecure attachment styles may have an exaggerated effect during adolescence. The current study, therefore, examined the neural correlates of insecure attachment in a diverse sample of adolescents using a frustrative non-reward task (i.e. repeatedly being denied an expected reward). Although there were no significant interactions in the whole-brain activation averaged over the course of the task, the use of complementary analytic approaches (connectivity, change in activation over the course of the task) revealed widespread alterations associated with avoidant attachment during the immediate reaction to, and ensuing recovery from, being denied a reward. Most strikingly, increased avoidant attachment, adjusting for anxious attachment, predicted functional connectivity and change in activity over time in amygdala-prefrontal and frontostriatal networks to reward blocked vs received trials. These patterns were in the opposite direction compared to those exhibited by adolescents lower in avoidant attachment. The findings suggest that negative emotional experiences, such as receiving frustrating feedback, may be uniquely aversive internal experiences for avoidantly attached adolescents and provide preliminary evidence that early coping strategies may persist into adolescence in the form of altered emotion- and reward-related neural patterns.

Frontostriatal functional connectivity underlies self-enhancement during social evaluation.

Self-enhancement, the tendency to view oneself positively, is a pervasive social motive widely investigated in the psychological sciences. Relatively little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this motive, specifically in social-evaluative situations. To investigate whether positive emotion regulation circuitry, circuitry involved in modulating positive affect, relates to the self-enhancement motive in social contexts, we conducted an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in a healthy young adult sample. We hypothesized that self-enhancement indices (state and trait self-esteem) would relate to greater functional connectivity between right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (RVLPFC), a region implicated in emotion regulation, and the ventral striatum (VS), a region associated with reward-related affect, during a social feedback task. Following social evaluation, participants experienced stable or decreased state self-esteem. Results showed that stable state self-esteem from pre- to post-scan and higher trait self-esteem related to greater RVLPFC-VS connectivity during positive evaluation. Stable-state self-esteem also related to greater RVLPFC-VS connectivity during negative evaluation. Moreover, RVLPFC activation during all types of feedback processing and left VS activation during negative feedback processing was greater for participants with stable-state self-esteem. These findings implicate neurocognitive mechanisms underlying emotion regulation in the self-enhancement motive and highlight a pathway through which self-enhancement may restore feelings of self-worth during threatening situations.

The neural sociometer: brain mechanisms underlying state self-esteem.

On the basis of the importance of social connection for survival, humans may have evolved a "sociometer"-a mechanism that translates perceptions of rejection or acceptance into state self-esteem. Here, we explored the neural underpinnings of the sociometer by examining whether neural regions responsive to rejection or acceptance were associated with state self-esteem. Participants underwent fMRI while viewing feedback words ("interesting," "boring") ostensibly chosen by another individual (confederate) to describe the participant's previously recorded interview. Participants rated their state self-esteem in response to each feedback word. Results demonstrated that greater activity in rejection-related neural regions (dorsal ACC, anterior insula) and mentalizing regions was associated with lower-state self-esteem. Additionally, participants whose self-esteem decreased from prescan to postscan versus those whose self-esteem did not showed greater medial prefrontal cortical activity, previously associated with self-referential processing, in response to negative feedback. Together, the results inform our understanding of the origin and nature of our feelings about ourselves.

Beyond social withdrawal: New perspectives on the effects of inflammation on social behavior.

Decades of research in animals and humans show that inflammation is an important regulator of social behavior. While much research in this area has concluded that inflammation causes a withdrawal from social interaction, closer examination of the literature reveals that the effects of inflammation on social behavior are much more nuanced. Indeed, while many studies do show that increases in inflammation lead to social withdrawal, other studies show the exact opposite, finding that inflammation leads to an increase in social approach behavior. Critically, whether an organism withdraws or approaches when inflamed may depend on the whether the target of the behavior is a close other or a stranger. In the present paper, we review both animal research and our initial research in humans that has utilized experimental manipulations of inflammation and examined their effects on social approach behavior. We argue, based on complementary theoretical perspectives and supporting evidence from the literature, that there are three critical next steps for translational work examining the effects of inflammation on social behavior: (1) We need to study actual social behavior, as expressed toward both close others and strangers; (2) We should examine not just the social behavior of the inflamed individual, but also the behavior of others interacting with an inflamed individual; and (3) We must consider the relative increases in inflammation (i.e., higher vs. lower) as a contributor to social withdrawal vs. approach. Ultimately, we urge the field to move beyond a singular focus on inflammation and social withdrawal so that we can develop a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of inflammation on a variety of social behaviors.

Replication and extension of the link between the cardiovascular system and sensitivity to social pain in healthy adults.

Resting blood pressure (BP) and heart rate variability (HRV) are linked to physical pain. Research also shows a link between social pain and physical pain, and an inverse association between resting BP and social pain. However, little is known regarding the relationship between resting HRV and social pain. Therefore, the present study aimed to replicate the link between social pain and physical pain, and the inverse relationship between resting BP and social pain, and explore the relationship between resting HRV and social pain. One-hundred twenty three healthy adults completed 1) resting cardiovascular measurements of BP and low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) HRV powers, 2) social pain sensitivity assessment via the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE) and Mehrabian's Sensitivity to Rejection (MSR) scales, and 3) physical pain sensitivity assessment via subjective pain responses during cold pressor test. The results indicated that no association was observed between social pain and physical pain, whereas resting BP was inversely associated with the MSR scores. Resting LF-HRV was inversely associated with social pain, whereas resting HF-HRV was positively associated with social pain. These findings suggest that physical pain and social pain may share biological substrates that are involved in BP regulation and pain control.