Biosocial Resonation: A Conceptual Model of the Links between Social Behavior and Physical Illness

Abstract

If sociomedical research is to move beyond the stage of repeatedly reporting correlations between social variables and disease, a viable conceptualization of the connection between social and physiological variables must be developed. We suggest that subjective interpretations of information perceived in a situation as congruous or incongruous with learned expectations is the key point of articulation. Each individual has an information repertoire derived from social interaction and direct contact with the non-social environment. If the individual's perceptions of the situation are not congruous with his information repertoire, he is likely to experience activation of the autonomic nervous system and related neuroendocrine and somatic processes. If these physiological processes are intense and/or prolonged enough, they may alter the body's resistance to infectious organisms, temporarily or irreversibly damage the body or reduce behavioral efficiency, increasing the likelihood of accidents. At the same time, encountering of information incongruities may lead to rejection by the individual of the source of the invalidated information. If this source is a social network, the member may become alienated from the network. If this alienation is shared by others, it may lead to social change. Social communication networks protect their members from incongruities by teaching them correct information, by isolating them from incongruous information, by explaining incongruities encountered so they are no longer perceived as incongruous, and by providing means of relieving tensions produced by encounters with incongruities.