Social Connection & Compassion's Impact on Health & Organizations- Emma Seppala

7/28/2019 Social Connection & Compassion's Impact on Health & Organizations- Emma Seppala

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Social Connection & Compassions

Impact on Health & Organizations

Emma Seppala, Ph.D.

Center for Compassion and Altruism

Research and Education

STANFORD UNIVERSITY


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Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybodyI think that is

a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has

nothing to eat.~ Mother Theresa

The longing for interpersonal intimacy stays with every human being from

infancy throughout life; and there is no human being who is not threatened byits loss...the human being is born with the need for contact and tenderness

~Fromm-Reichmann, 1959


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Social connection


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Social Connection

A fundamental human motivation (Baumeister & Leary, 1995)

Developmental Psychology

attachment (secure, insecure, anxious)

Clinical/Sociological: emotional

support, social support, loneliness

Social: belonging, social connectedness

Personality Psychology

Maslow (1943)s Hierarchy of Needs


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Harlow, 1958


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Low Social Connection

Infancy: developmental deficits & death

Adolescence/Adulthood:

psychological distress

negative emotionality,

pessimism, anxiety,

depression,

low trust,

low self-esteem,

violence,

Suicide predictive of psychological relapse in case of psychopathology


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Extoversion

Neuroticism

Well-Being

Psychological

Distress


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Extoversion

Neuroticism

Well-Being

Psychological

Distress

Social Connection


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Extoversion

Neuroticism

Well-Being

Psychological

Distress

Social Connection

LOW

HIGH

Lee, Dean & Jung, 2008


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Low Social Connection

As unhealthy as obesity, high blood pressure, or smoking (House et al., 1988)

Increased Risk of

Sleep disturbance (Cacioppo et al., 2002; Hawkley, Masi, Berry, & Cacioppo, 2006)

Elevated blood pressure increased risk of mortality (Cacioppo et al., 2002)

Weakening of the immune system, chronically elevated cortisol, chronically elevated

activation of the HPA Axis (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2003; De Vries, Glasper & Detillion, 2003; (Hawkley &Cacioppo, 2007; Pressman et al., 2005)

Accelerated physiological decline with aging (Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2007)

Alzheimers and dementia (Fratiglioni, 2000)

Inflammation at the cellular level (Cole et al., 2007)

Earlier mortality (Berkman & Syme, 1979, Berkman, 1997)

Social exclusion - one of the main sources of anxiety for the general public, after fear of

physical harm & leads to significant emotional distress (Baumeister, Twenge & Nuss, 2002; Baumeister &Tice, 1990; Cacioppo, Hughes, Waite, Hawkley & Thisted, 2006; Twenge, Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco, & Bartels, 2007)

Loneliness hurts: Social Rejection & physical Pain share same brain regions (Kross et al., 2010)


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High Social Connection

Subjective well-being & happiness (Dean & Lee & Jung, 2008; Kimweli & Stilwell, 2002; Lee & Robbins,1998; Diener & Seligman, 2004; Myers, 2000; Putnam, 2001); Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Tanaka et al., 2007)

High self-esteem, social self-confidence, and resiliency across a broad array of stressfullife events and environments (Lee, Draber & Sujin, 2001; Lee, & Robbins, 1998; Taylor, 2007, for a review)

Higher optimism and trust (Lee, Draber & Sujin, 2001; Lee, & Robbins, 1998; Ptacek & Gross, 1997)

Prosociality (Twenge et al. 2007; Kunce & Shaver, 2004; Thoits & Hewitt, 2001; Westmaas & Silver, 2001;

Wilson & Musick, 1999, for a review)

50% increased chance of longevity (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010)

Strengthened immunity, faster recovery from disease (Pressman et al., 2005)

Resilience against life stresses (Cobb ,1976)

Oxytocin and opioids, released in affiliative contexts, may serve as a protective factor,decreasing the stress-induced cortisol levels, and increasing survival and health (Detillion,

Craft, Glasper, Predergast, & DeVries, 2004; Knox & Uvnas-Moberg, 1998; Taylor & Gonzaga, 2007)

Giving benefits health outcomes and longevity more than receiving (Brown et al., 2003)

Volunteers live longer than nonvolunteers, but only if they volunteer for selfless reasons(Konrath & Fuhrel-Forbis, 2011)


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Social Connection

Social networks & number of close others decreasing. (McPherson et al.,2006)

e.g. modal number of close others

Benefits linked to subjective sense of social connection.

Determinants of benefits of social connection?

Affection

Subjective perception


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Loving-Kindness Meditation

(LKM)
http://avatars.yahoo.com/?src=ymail


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Study Outline

TIME 1 TIME 2Manipulation

And/or

N=93, 57% female6 minutes

Hutcherson, Seppala & Gross, 2008

OR


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Targeted LKM


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Control (Neutral)

Manipulation
http://avatars.yahoo.com/?src=ymail


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How [X] do you

feel right now?

Mood

Angry Calm

Anxious Happy

Unhappy Loving


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Target

Non-TargetHow [connected/similar/positive]

do you feel to the person in the

photograph?

Explicit Social Connectedness


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Implicit Social Connectedness


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http://mail.google.com/mail/?realattid=f_f43bln36&attid=0.2&disp=inline&view=att&th=113c1fbb08384f6c


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NICE



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ANGRY



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-.2

.0

.2

.4

.6

.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

** p


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-60

-40

-20

20

40

60

80

100

non- target target

Change in Implicit

Connectedness

*

* p


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Change in Mood

**

** p


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-300.00

-200.00

-100.00

0.00

100.00

200.00

300.00

400.00

-4.00 -2.00 0.00 2.00 4.00

Changeinimplicitpositivitytotarget

Change in Positive Mood

r= .39,p < .001

Sobel z-test: z = 2.19 p


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Stress/Trauma


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Wired for Compassion

The urge to help others is innate (e.g. Tomasello)

We are quicker to cooperate than to compete both as children and adults (Rand,Greene & Nowak, 2012)

Compassion ensured our survival (and even influences dating preferences!)(Sapolsky, 2004; Buss, 1986)

Compassion makes us happy (Harbaugh, 2009, Moll et al, 2006, Dunn et al, 2008)


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Organizations


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Values & Service

We are fundamentally driven by values:

A lack of sense of contribution to society increases psychological distress

A lack a sense of bonding with the workplace increases psychological distress

50% of people want to work for a company that has a volunteering program

Employees that share the same values as their company have

- Higher levels of organizational commitment- Perform better

- Feel more motivated

It makes us happier to give to others than to spend on ourselves

Giving boosts health, happiness & longevity more than receiving

Compassionate behavior is like psychological chocolate for the brain

Volunteers live longer than non-volunteers (if done for selfless reasons)


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Compassion Spreads

Kindness elevates us. It inspires and moves (Haidt, 2000)

Elevation begets more kindness (Schnall et al., 2010)

Kindness spreads up to 3 degrees of separation away (Fowler & Christakis,2010)

Compassionate leadership fosters employee

prosocial behavior and commitment

- When a manager is more prosocial, it rubs

off on employees and leads to less voluntary

turnover

- Self-sacrificing and fair leaders evoke

elevation in their employees which in turn

leads to greater loyalty, commitment &

prosocial behavior in employees


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Purpose

There are leaders and there are those who lead.

Leaders hold a position of power or influences.

Those who lead inspire us.

Whether individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead not because we

have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for

ourselves.

~ Simon Sinek


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Self-Compassion (Neff)

Self-Esteem Competition

Self-criticism

Self-Compassion

Being kind & understanding of oneself vs. self-critical

Perceiving ones experiences as part of a larger human experience

rather than isolating

Being mindful of thoughts and feelings without identifying with them

greater well-being superior performance & productivity

openness to challenges and learning

resilience, strength & emotional stability

decreased stress


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Thank you

Emma Seppala, Ph.D.

Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education

Stanford University

[email protected]

C i I i
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Compassion Interventions

CCARE Compassion Training: Increases compassion for self and other (Jazaieri et al, 2012),

and increased happiness and decreased emotional suppression (Jazaieri et al, 2013)

Emory Compassion Training: Reduce neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and behavioral

responses to psychosocial stress (Pace et al., 2008)

Loving-Kindness Meditation:

Boost social connectedness (Hutcherson, Seppala, & Gross, 2008)

Increase in positive emotions: amusement, awe, contentment, gratitude, hope, joy,interest, love and pride (Fredrickson et al., 2008)

Increased neural activations for positive emotion, self regulation and resiliency (Weng et

al., 2009)

Compassion Trainings change behaviors

Real impact on helping behavior towards strangers (Leiberg, Klimecki, & Singer, 2011 &

Condon, Desbordes, Miller & DeSteno 2013). Active pursuit of fairness and equality (Weng et al., 2013).

Social Connection & Compassion's Impact on Health & Organizations- Emma Seppala

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