Have you ever had such an experience, when you saw passers-by falling heavily, you sighed “I feel pain”…… Obviously I didn’t go through all this, butWhyWill there be a feeling of “pain in your body, pain in my heart”? This experience of feeling pain in others is not uncommon, and it has a professional name: pain empathy.
“The pain is in your body, and it hurts in my heart”nervemechanism
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings and emotions of others. Pain empathy is a typical manifestation of empathy, which refers to an individual’s perception, judgment, and emotional response to the pain experienced by others. That is, when others suffer from pain, we can “empathize” with their pain and grief.
So how did this feeling of “others hurt me too” come about? What is the similarity and difference between this pain and the pain that happens to us?
The classical model of shared empathy states that the observer achieves empathy towards others by invoking the same neural representations as the observed. In this process, mirror neurons may be the basis for us to imitate other people’s movements and understand other people’s emotions.
To give the most common example: when we see others laughing, we can’t help but laugh, and sometimes we can’t stop laughing. This is mainly because when we observe the expressions and movements of others,cerebrumWe experience similar neurophysiological responses, experience similar feelings, and therefore produce similar emotional states.
Similarly, observing others suffering from pain is very similar to the neural response pattern triggered by our own experience, manifested by the activation of brain regions responsible for processing our own pain information (i.e., nociceptive sensory stimuli). The activation of these areas allows individuals to perceive the pain of others while producing emotional experiences that are extremely similar to those of immediate pain.
Pain empathy is not “everyone is equal”
Although pain empathy is common and this phenomenon is not unique to humans, we are in itlifeIt is not difficult to find that people do not have the same degree of pain empathy for all people, nor do they have strong pain empathy in all situations.
For example seeMovieWhen the “bad guys” in the “bad guys” suffer from pain, we can temporarily “turn off” our empathy and be indifferent to their pain. This is mainly because pain empathy is influenced by personal experience, interpersonal relationships,psychologystate and other factors.
First of all, it is your own pain sensitivity. Generally speaking, individuals with higher pain sensitivity have empathy for the pain of otherswaterFlat is stronger, and will have stronger emotions and pain cognition of other people’s pain.
Secondly, group identity. Compared with strangers, people are more likely to empathize with their relatives and lovers; Compared with foreigners, people are more likely to empathize with their own people; Even mice will only help their peers who are kept in the same cage rather than in the different cages to keep them from pain.
Thirdly, it is the vulnerability of the observed. In life, people tend to show more pain empathy for vulnerable groups, because the physical or psychological vulnerability of vulnerable groups will attract more empathetic attention.
It can be seen that pain empathy not only has individual differences, but also has certain preferences.
Pain empathy can not only make individuals sensitive to the needs of others, such as parents know how to take care of and protect their children, but also help individuals understand and empathize with the painful situations of others, and be able to provide timely help. Empathy with others means better social communication and more trust and cooperation, which is a strong guarantee for promoting the harmonious development of society.
