Social expectations and homeostatic dynamics shape momentary social craving

Social craving motivates people to seek connection, yet its momentary dynamics remain poorly understood. Existing accounts emphasize homeostatic regulation of social need, but do not specify how external social cues and expectations could rapidly shape desire for contact. We developed a social craving paradigm that selectively and reliably characterized social craving across three samples, including a U.S.-representative cohort and test-retest cohort. Social craving was best captured as a latent state driven by social cues and expectation violations and regulated around a person-specific setpoint. Higher chronic loneliness was linked to down-shifts in the craving setpoint and greater sensitivity to expectation violations. These findings formalize social motivation, learning signals, and homeostatic control within a single framework and identify a social craving phenotype linked to persistent social distress.