Dr. Ben Rein
speaker
1,093 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 10 Jun
Dr. Ben Rein’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.
Appearances
So...
These researchers, Dr. Matt Lieberman and Naomi Eisenberger, they said, what if we gave these people painkillers, acetaminophen?
If we blunt the brain response to pain, do they experience less social pain?
And they did.
They had the people take these painkillers like every day for a couple of weeks.
And then they asked them and they found that they reported less social pain during that experience or during that time.
And then they put them in brain scanners.
simulated an experience where they were socially rejected and the people, if they were on acetaminophen, they showed less of a brain response to this rejection.
And to answer your question of like, why can this be negative for our interactions?
It feels almost like it could be positive.
When you see someone else in pain,
the way that you empathize and you feel for them is kind of the same thing.
It activates those same brain areas that are responsible for this painful feeling.
You take on their emotions because your brain literally steps into the same type of pattern.
So if you take acetaminophen, it does the same thing where it blunts that activity
and it can prevent you from sharing someone else's pain.
So theoretically, if you were driving down the road and you saw someone hurt, pulled over on the side, you're naturally, your brain response would be, oh my gosh, this person is hurt.
I should maybe help them.
But if you were taking acetaminophen, your brain's response would be blunted because you can't really embody their pain as well.
And as a result, you'd probably be more likely to just keep on driving and say, gosh, sucks for them, but I don't care.
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