Pinch Yourself and Know Others Psychological Pain: Physical Pain Sensitivity Correlates with Estimated Psychological Pain of Others

Abstract

Focusing on the semantic similarity between physical and psychological pain, we tested whether people who are sensitive to their own bodily pain are also sensitive to the psychological distress of others. Forty-three undergraduates evaluated the subjec- tive physical pain induced by a tactile stimulus. Then, they rated the negative emotions of the characters depicted in the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and the pro- and anti-social attitudes toward others. Also, we measured how fast they can detect neg- ative facial expressions and negative emotional words. Result indicated that the high pain-sensitivity group (n = 23) projected more avoidant emotion to the TAT pictures (p = .07, d =0.67), and detected negative faces more fast (D =0.37, p = .07) than the low-sensitivity group (n = 20). The high group also felt more prosocial emotions (p = .02, d =0.76), and showed more critical attitudes toward bullying (p = .07, d =0.56). It seems unlikely that the relationship between the sensitivity of physical pain and the prosocial responses can be mediated by the judgment of psychological distress of others. Rather, it is more likely that physical pain can directly enhance the awareness of psychological distress of others and prosocial reactions to them.