Dr. Cacioppo is the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor and Director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. He conducts research on social neuroscience.
As a social species, humans create organizations beyond the individual — structures that range from pairs, families, and groups to cities, civilizations, and international alliances. These structures evolved hand in hand with genetic, neural, and hormonal mechanisms to support them; this is because the consequent social behaviors helped humans survive, reproduce, and care for offspring sufficiently long that they too survived to reproduce. Dr. Cacioppo’s research is focused on understanding these mechanisms and their effect on the mind, behavior, and health. He recently has been studying objective social isolation and perceived social isolation (loneliness) as a way to determine the effects of our sociality on brain and biology.
Dr. Cacioppo received his doctorate from Ohio State University. He has written and/or coauthored 17 books and more than 400 chapters and articles. He has also served on various boards, including the Department of Health and Human Services National Advisory Council on Aging, the External Advisory Committee of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, and the International Board for the “Language of Emotions” Cluster of Excellence at Freie Universität Berlin.
Awards and Credentials
- National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award
- American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology Donald Campbell Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions
- Society for Psychophysiological Research Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology Theoretical Innovation Prize
Related Links
Recommended Reading List
- Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection. Cacioppo, J., et al, (2008). W.W. Norton.
- Emotional Contagion. Hatfield, E., et al. (1994). Cambridge.
