Loneliness, social network size, and immune response to influenza vaccination in college freshmen.

Antibody response to the influenza immunization was investigated in 83 1st-semester healthy university freshmen. Elevated levels of loneliness throughout the semester and small social networks were independently associated with poorer antibody response to 1 component of the vaccine. Those with both high levels of loneliness and a small social network had the lowest antibody response. Loneliness was also associated with greater psychological stress and negative affect, less positive affect, poorer sleep efficiency and quality, and elevations in circulating levels of cortisol. However, only the stress data were consistent with mediation of the loneliness-antibody response relation. None of these variables were associated with social network size, and hence none were potential mediators of the relation between network size and immunization response.     

Towards Dialogical Models of Radicalization and de-Radicalization

According to social psychology, radicalization occurs for a variety of reasons reasons. They include a sense of exclusion, threatened identity, loss of meaning and significance, negative emotions and defensive identification with a group representing power and a clear-cut ideology. In the terms of the Dialogical Self Theory, radicalization implies atrophy of the internal polyphony and dialogical functions of the self. Two hypothetical models of the radicalized self are proposed. The first posits the creation of a powerful I-position that represents a “universal” truth that is not open to doubt. The second introduces twin I-positions, one representing a sense of insecurity and another depicting a redemptive idea. Both types imply lowered openness and reduction of social and internal dialogs, resulting in a dysfunctional, rigid organized self. The question discussed in this article is: How can such an internal organization of the self be changed? Thus it aims to describe and explain the process of de-radicalization, which is proposed to consist of three elements: (1) reorganization of the self-structure and stimulation of a promoter position, (2) restoration of security, which can awaken the polyphony and dialogicality of the self, and (3) supporting internal dialog, promoter functions and a meta-position by reference to values that are significant for the relevant I-positions and the system as a whole.