Wrap up & Questions Melanie Kopaska

Something to Consider: Pain in Social Situations “it only hurts for a little while” social psychology or perception? In our society, our “pain” we experience is not only physical pain, however, it is what someone might feel when their relationship ends or when they are excluded from a social group. There is evidence that the pain of social loss may activate the same parts of the brain that are activated by physical pain.

Eisenburger and Coworkers (2003) Participants’ brain activity was measured using fMRI Watched or played a computer game (CyberBall) Believed they were playing with two other players Reality = no other players Watched other players, then was included in the game Received 7 throws then appeared to be excluded because they stopped including the participant Exclusion part = participant reported feeling ignored and excluded and reported some distress Results of exclusion showed = increased activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) the same area of the brain that is activated by emotional suffering associated with physical pain This activation of the (ACC) was greater in participants who reported greater social distress in response to being excluded

Results Being hurt by feeling rejected activated pain-related areas in the brain What about watching someone else experiencing pain? Answer: watching another person experience pain also activates the (ACC) Heightened activation when the person watching feels empathy

Tania Singer and Coworkers (2004) Romantic couples brain activity measured by fMRI Women either receive shocks herself or watch her male partner receive shocks Number of areas were activated when shocks were received Some of the same areas were activated when the woman watched her partner receive shocks Women filled out “empathy scales” that were measuring their tendency to sympathize with others As predicted: women who scored higher empathy scores showed higher activation of their (ACC) Even though social pain is different from physical pain, they share some physiological mechanisms.

Question # 11 Nociceptive pain Social pain Pain that is caused by the activation of receptors in the skin called nociceptors Respond to different stimuli Heat, chemical, severe pressure, and cold Social pain Caused by experiencing distress from a social situation Ex. A bad breakup Connection: Singer and coworkers (2004) Two polar opposite types of pain, but share physiological mechanisms

Question #2 Pain can be affected by a person’s attention Nintendo example Bottom-up processes Information that falls on the receptors Top-down processes Knowledge that a person brings to the situation Like Miriam discussed on page 344, pain can be affected by a person’s attention Nintendo example: kid goes to plug in cord to Nintendo, slips and falls, hits head on radiator under the window, plugs in cord, continues to play until feels warm liquid rolling down his face, touched it, saw blood, and screamed and then experienced the pain. In terms of bottom-up processes: kid can feels the movement of the blood dripping on his skin, he can see the blood on his fingers Top-down processes: uses higher cognitive processes to associate hitting his head on the radiator to pain, prior experience that blood indicates pain. Even though there was physical stimulation of the skin receptors, pain was not experienced until further higher cognitive processes took place to tell the body that the stimulation = pain

6. Pain in the phantom limb. Phantom limb – experiencing pain in a limb that does not exist, often time experienced in amputees