Loneliness and Fictional Relationships
Lonely people without a close network of family and friends often form close bonds with their favourite TV characters. And, the lonelier the person, the closer the bonds tend to be.
This was the main finding of a study at Ohio State University. Dylan Wagner, associate professor of psychology and a co-author of the research, said, "The boundaries between real and some fictional people were nearly nonexistent for the loneliest participant."
The people taking part in the study were all fans of the HBO series Game of Thrones. They were all asked to think about themselves, their friends, and characters from the show while their brains were scanned. Changes in brain activity were noted as participants were shown images of characters from the show.
In the brains of people who were not lonely, activity in the brain was clearly different when they were shown images of the fictional characters. However, there was less of a difference in the brain activity of lonely people when they were shown pictures of the Game of Thrones characters.
Wagner believes that lonely people develop a sense of connection with their favourite characters to make up for what's missing in their lives. They relate to the characters as though they were real friends.
//Questions//
1. Who do lonely people without a close network of family and friends often form close bonds with?
Answer:
Lonely people without a close network of family and friends often form close bonds with their favorite TV characters.
Reason:
(1st Paragraph) Lonely people without a close network of family and friends often form close bonds with their favorite TV characters.
2. What was noted as participants were shown images of characters from the show?
Answer:
Changes in brain activity were noted as participants were shown images of characters from the show.
Reason:
(3rd Paragraph) Changes in brain activity were noted as participants were shown images of characters from the show.
3. What did the brain activity of lonely people show when they were shown images of fictional characters?
Answer:
There was less of a difference in the brain activity of lonely people when they were shown pictures of the Game of Thrones characters.
Reason:
(4th Paragraph) However, there was less of a difference in the brain activity of lonely people when they were shown pictures of the Game of Thrones characters.
//Discussions//
Q1
Would you agree that TV is essential for people living on their own? Please explain.
->
No, I don't think so.
Young people are more accustomed to getting information from the internet and SNS than TV or radio.
However, older people may often watch TV all day long.
So I think it depends on the age and condition of the person.
Q2
Do you agree that TV characters can replace real friends and family for lonely people? Please share your thoughts.
->
Yes, I agree.
If you watch TV every day, every week, every time, you may feel like you are living your life alongside the characters on TV.
Of course, I think it's more important to communicate with real people. Still, if you can feel closer to the characters in a movie, drama, or anime you're passionate about, they could replace real people.
Q3
Do you enjoy TV series that have characters you can relate to? Why or why not?
->
Yes, I like it.
If someone in the drama can empathize with the person, it becomes much more enjoyable to watch that movie or drama.
However, I also like watching documentaries and movies based on true stories.
If you think it's a real story, you can feel it more closely and realistically; if the person is famous, it can be a good history or character study.
Q4
Do you think researching loneliness is essential? Please discuss.
->
Yes, I think it's essential.
If you are genuinely physically alone in your life, you may feel lonely.
However, even if you live with your family or belong to a company or community, you can still feel lonely.
In either case, humans will feel very sad and helpless.
Because we cannot live alone.
Q5
Would you say that modern technology has made life easier for lonely people? Why or why not?
->
Yes, I think so.
You can communicate using translation apps and software even if you speak different languages. Of course, you can also read articles in foreign languages.
Even if you have much time alone, you can enjoy movies and music at home for free.
However, I also realized that meeting and talking with real people, travelling, and attending movies and concerts are precious times.
Because those experiences give us irreplaceable time in our lives.
Q6
In the future, do you worry that you might be lonely? Why or why not?
->
Yes, I'm worried.
If more and more of your friends and family die, you might end up alone.
However, if you have a lot of memories and experiences of your own, that alone will make you feel happy.
Rather than collecting things and money, I would like to live a life that values new experiences and connections with people.
Loneliness and Fictional Relationships
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How loneliness changes the way our brains process the world - 11 Oct 2023
1)
Feeling lonely can also lead to social withdrawal and negative thinking, making connecting with people harder.
If there's one thing we humans seem to have in common, it's that most of us have felt lonely at one time or another. But is the pain of feeling socially isolated just part of being human? Why does the world seem so different when we're feeling lonely? Recent research has begun to provide some answers. And it turns out that loneliness can affect your perception and cognition.
2)
Although no one enjoys feeling lonely, scientists have argued that humans evolved to feel this way for good reason.
Social relationships are crucial, providing security, resources, the ability to have children, etc. The fact that we find loneliness so unpleasant often motivates us to reconnect with others, which brings all these benefits.
But it's not that simple. Feeling lonely can also lead to social withdrawal and negative thinking, making it harder to connect with people.
3)
The lonely brain
Studies have found differences in brain areas associated with loneliness. In lonely young adults, areas of the brain associated with social cognition and empathy have less dense white matter (an extensive network of nerve fibres that allows information exchange and communication between different brain areas). However, in lonely older adults, brain regions important for cognitive processing and emotional regulation are smaller in volume.
4)
A recent study found that the brains of lonely people distinctively process the world. The researchers asked participants to watch video clips in an fMRI scanner. They found that while non-lonely people showed very similar neural activity to each other, lonely people showed brain activity dissimilar to each other and the non-lonely participants. So lonely people seem to see the world differently from others.
5)
Finding friends in fiction
This can also be seen in how lonely people view fictional characters. Researchers in the US carried out brain scans on fans of Game of Thrones while deciding whether different adjectives accurately described feelings from the show. The study's authors identified activity in the brain that distinguished between real and fictional people.
6)
While the difference between the two categories was clear for non-lonely people, the line was blurred for lonely people. These findings suggest that feeling lonely may be associated with thinking about fictional characters, similar to thinking about real friends.
However, given the study's design, it's unclear whether the findings suggest that loneliness causes this kind of thinking or that thinking about fictional characters in this way causes people to feel lonely. And there's always the possibility that a third factor causes both results.
Another recent study, this time by researchers in Scotland, has provided further evidence of how loneliness affects cognition. This study focused on inanimate objects. Participants were shown pictures of products with pareidolic faces (face-like patterns) and asked to give several ratings, such as how eager they were to explore the product and how likely they were to buy it.
7)
The results showed that lonelier participants (compared to those with lower self-reported loneliness) were likelier to attend to, engage with, and purchase products with 'happy' configurations. These findings may, in turn, provide evidence that loneliness is associated with the drive to find connection, even if it's with objects.
Indeed, this makes sense in light of previous work showing that lonelier people are more likely to anthropomorphise gadgets or their pets.
8)
These studies seem to tell us that loneliness is not just about the perceived absence of others but also about the desire for connection. Whether treating fictional characters like real friends or being attracted to happy objects, our brains seek social relationships wherever they can be found, especially when we don't feel that other people provide enough.
