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The Tap Code
Bob Shumaker describes the Tap Code he and fellow POWs developed during their years of solitary confinement in Vietnam.
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Your Friends' Friends Can Make You Happy
Dr. Nicholas Christakis explains how happiness flows one person to another.
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The First Connection
Dr. Lane Strathearn talks about the mother-child bond and how that sets the stage for a lifetime of social connections.
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Choosing Friends
Elizabeth Gilbert talks about how she chooses her friends.
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Tennis Friends
John McEnroe talks about the difficulty of maintaining friendships.
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Career and friendship
John Leguizamo talks about how success altered his priorities and threatened his friendships.
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You can't buy happiness
America Ferrara shares a personal story about the isolation she felt in the early days of her acting career.
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The Loneliness Alarm
Dr. John Cacioppo, who studies loneliness and social isolation, explains why loneliness is bad for our health.
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Chapter 1: The Tap Code
1. Video
The Tap Code -
Chapter 2: Your Friends' Friends Can Make You Happy
2. Video
Your Friends' Friends Can Make You Happy -
Chapter 3: The First Connection
3. Video
The First Connection -
Chapter 4: The Friendship Challenge
4. Video
Choosing Friends -
5. Video
Tennis Friends -
6. Video
Career and friendship -
Chapter 5: The Loneliness Alarm
7. Video
You can't buy happiness -
8. Video
The Loneliness Alarm
Connection This collection of videos looks at our earliest attachment, the power of social networks, and the epidemic of loneliness.
Our need for social connection begins the day we are born, when we attach to our parent or caregiver.
In this collection of videos, extraordinary individuals and distinguished experts discuss the power of social connections, the importance of social networks, and the epidemic of loneliness. A former POW shares a moving story of friendship and survival, and celebrities reveal the challenges they've had in building and maintaining friendships.
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Chapter 1: The Tap Code
How do you survive 3 years of solitary confinement in a POW camp? Bob Shumaker explains how a tap code allowed he and his fellow POWs to communicate.
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Chapter 2: Your Friends' Friends Can Make You Happy
Dr. Nicholas Christakis, who has spent 10 years studying human social networks, explains how happiness flows one person to another.
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Chapter 3: The First Connection
Dr. Lane Strathearn describes the enduring nature of the mother-child bond and how that sets the stage for a lifetime of social connections.
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Chapter 4: The Friendship Challenge
Elizabeth Gilbert talks about how she has changed the way she chooses her friends, John McEnroe talks about the difficulty of maintaining friendships, and John Leguizamo talks about how success altered his priorities and threatened his friendships.
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Chapter 5: The Loneliness Alarm
America Ferrara shares a personal story about the isolation she felt in the early days of her acting career. Dr. John Cacioppo, who studies loneliness and social isolation, explains why loneliness is bad for our health.
This Emotional Life is a co-production of the NOVA/WGBH Science Unit and Vulcan Productions, Inc. A Film by Kunhardt McGee Productions. ©/™ 2009 WGBH Educational Foundation and Vulcan Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This Web site was produced for PBS Online by elephants & ants.
Funding for This Emotional Life is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Public Television Viewers. Additional funding provided by the University of Phoenix and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
