Why Do We Feel Pain?

[April_Rose]

That is when others do. I was just watching a movie where somebody got a nail stuck in their eye and I was cringing up. I am just writing this. I also sometimes feel sadness when others feel it but I do believe this is for empathy. However, my body reacts to pain as if I'm in pain myself. Just like this video. Is there any scientific reason for this? Is it for the same reason as shown in the video?

 

[Sabertooth]

Humans are social creatures by design.

 

[ViaCrucis]

That is when others do. I was just watching a movie where somebody got a nail stuck in their eye and I was cringing up. I am just writing this. I also sometimes feel sadness when others feel it but I do believe this is for empathy. However, my body reacts to pain as if I'm in pain myself. Just like this video. Is there any scientific reason for this? Is it for the same reason as shown in the video?

It is empathy, empathy serves a valuable social purpose. Being able to imagine one in the place of another means we are better able to relate to one another, and thus are better at social cooperation.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Sabertooth]

It is empathy, empathy serves a valuable social purpose. Being able to imagine one in the place of another means we are better able to relate to one another, and thus are better at social cooperation.

And it helps us to "love our neighbor as ourself."

 

[sjastro]

As a scientist I would consider would it hurt twice as much if you stuck a nail in your other eye.

 

[April_Rose]

As a scientist I would consider would it hurt twice as much if you stuck a nail in your other eye.

The cringe is back.

 

[SkyWriting]

That is when others do. I was just watching a movie where somebody got a nail stuck in their eye and I was cringing up. I am just writing this. I also sometimes feel sadness when others feel it but I do believe this is for empathy. However, my body reacts to pain as if I'm in pain myself. Just like this video. Is there any scientific reason for this? Is it for the same reason as shown in the video?

The brain is programmable. I knew a girl who couldn't watch TV because it was as real as reality to her and she felt to much anguish along with the actors.

 

[April_Rose]

The brain is programmable.

Then can I get a repairman for mine? This is only the channel that I seem to get.

 

[Sabertooth]

The brain is programmable. I knew a girl who couldn't watch TV because it was as real as reality to her and she felt to much anguish along with the actors.

I cannot stand slasher films for the same reason. (I can stomach non-lethal fight scenes, however.)
I heard that people who continually watch slasher films can harden their spirits --and their empathy-- to such images, but that is not something that I want to do.

 

[SkyWriting]

I cannot stand slasher films for the same reason. (I can stomach non-lethal fight scenes, however.)
I heard that people who continually watch slasher films can harden their spirits --and their empathy-- to such images, but that is not something that I want to do.

An interesting follow up study found that people exposed to violent images were more compassionate to others when asked about the harm they had seen. Researchers proposed that the violence became part of their thought process and the harmful effects were considered more often than those who kept themselves sheltered.

 

[Sabertooth]

An interesting follow up study found that people exposed to violent images were more compassionate to others when asked about the harm they had seen.

Were those images shown as news or as entertainment?

 

[SkyWriting]

Were those images shown as news or as entertainment?

They were shown as part of the study. So neither news or entertainment.
This was adults who could contemplate what they had seen, not children.

 

[Sabertooth]

They were shown as part of the study. So neither news or entertainment.

Being "part of a study" doesn't nullify my question.
A factual news and/or medical photo presents differently than a fictional image that seeks to make a spectacle of violent injury & death.

It is like the difference between a clinical nude and a suggestive nude.

 

[SkyWriting]

Being "part of a study" doesn't nullify my question.
A factual news and/or medical photo presents differently than a fictional image that seeks to make a spectacle of violent injury & death.

It is like the difference between a clinical nude and a suggestive nude.

And the scenes used in the study were not news or entertainment.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

This was adults who could contemplate what they had seen, not children.

Studies on violence in video games also suggest that children that play them are not more likely to be violent in real life. I suspect that there's a brain mechanism that clearly distinguishes play violence from real violence in children; I would guess this has a long evolutionary history.

 

[AV1611VET]

That is when others do.

I think it's called "the power of suggestion."

 

[Brightmoon]

I cannot stand slasher films for the same reason. (I can stomach non-lethal fight scenes, however.)
I heard that people who continually watch slasher films can harden their spirits --and their empathy-- to such images, but that is not something that I want to do.

Bad memory there . I hated westerns as a child - someone was always getting shot and killed. I thought there was something wrong with me because I didn’t enjoy them or the monster movies where people get killed. I used to watch violent movies deliberately as a teen to harden myself . I finally realized that I just hate stuff like that and won’t watch them anymore . I can now watch older movies like Creature From the Black Lagoon because they are so obviously fake that they aren’t scary

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

Studies on violence in video games also suggest that children that play them are not more likely to be violent in real life. I suspect that there's a brain mechanism that clearly distinguishes play violence from real violence in children; I would guess this has a long evolutionary history.

My wife, a fully grown adult, had to stop playing GTA because she was beginning to seriously consider running people off the road on her way to and from work everyday.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

My wife, a fully grown adult, had to stop playing GTA because she was beginning to seriously consider running people off the road on her way to and from work everyday.

That's a little surprising, but it may be no accident that most adult games are generally far more rigidly ruled and structured than free-form children's play, to emphasise & enforce the control required when sublimating adult competitiveness & aggression.

Just speculatin'...

 

[AV1611VET]

That's a little surprising, but it may be no accident that most adult games are generally far more rigidly ruled and structured than free-form children's play, to emphasise & enforce the control required when sublimating adult competitiveness & aggression.

Just speculatin'...

I'm glad she didn't play Doom!