how connection developsLoneliness and self-centeredness may reinforce each other over time. In their 2017 study, John Cacioppo, Hsi Yuan Chen and Stephanie Cacioppo followed middle-aged and older adults across ten annual assessments, examining whether either experience predicted the other a year later.
Greater loneliness predicted greater subsequent self-centeredness. Self-centeredness also predicted later loneliness, although that association was smaller. Here, self-centeredness meant a tendency to focus on interests and concerns. The finding does not establish that lonely people are uncaring or have a personality disorder.
The authors interpreted this pattern through an evolutionary account. Feeling socially disconnected might increase attention to self-preservation when dependable support seems less available. That protective focus could, in turn, make connection harder to sustain. This explanation remains a proposed mechanism rather than something the study directly demonstrated.
The results also require qualification. After adjustment for depressive symptoms, the loneliness-to-self-centeredness association narrowly missed conventional statistical significance. Following people over time strengthens evidence about sequence, but does not establish causation.
The paper gives self-focused behavior a relational context. Attention to oneself and the experience of connection may develop together, rather than representing unrelated personal qualities. Its contribution is understanding a possible feedback process, not proving a way to interrupt it.
Sources
Cacioppo, J. T., Chen, H. Y., & Cacioppo, S. (2017). Reciprocal influences between loneliness and self-centeredness: A cross-lagged panel analysis in a population-based sample of African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian adults. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(8), 1125–1135.