Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern
Abstract Background What is our immediate reaction when we witness someone experiencing pain? The empathy-altruism hypothesis predicts that observers would display empathy and a tendency to approach the person in pain. Alternatively, the threat value of pain hypothesis (TVPH) argues that others'...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-09-01
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| Series: | BMC Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01310-3 |
| _version_ | 1797555631405662208 |
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| author | Juan Song Zijing Zhao Zhibin Jiao Yao Peng Mingyuan Chu |
| author_facet | Juan Song Zijing Zhao Zhibin Jiao Yao Peng Mingyuan Chu |
| author_sort | Juan Song |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background What is our immediate reaction when we witness someone experiencing pain? The empathy-altruism hypothesis predicts that observers would display empathy and a tendency to approach the person in pain. Alternatively, the threat value of pain hypothesis (TVPH) argues that others' pain serves as a signal of threat and should induce observers’ avoidance response. Methods To examine these two hypotheses, three experiments were conducted. The experiments aimed to investigate the impact of subliminal exposure to others' physical pain on participants' emotional and behavioural responses. Results The results revealed that subliminal pain priming resulted in faster response and attentional bias to fearful faces compared to sad faces (Experiment 1), faster reaction times in recognizing fear-related words compared to anger-related words during a lexical decision task (Experiment 2), and faster avoidance responses towards anger-related words, as opposed to approaching responses towards positive words (Experiment 3). Conclusions The consistent findings across all experiments revealed that subliminal perception of pain scenes elicited fear emotion and immediate avoidance responses. Therefore, the outcomes of our study provide supportive evidence for the TVPH. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:50:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5c9b196943a4902ba8f2b2fb4d8ba2b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-7283 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:50:15Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5c9b196943a4902ba8f2b2fb4d8ba2b2023-11-20T11:20:44ZengBMCBMC Psychology2050-72832023-09-0111111710.1186/s40359-023-01310-3Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concernJuan Song0Zijing Zhao1Zhibin Jiao2Yao Peng3Mingyuan Chu4Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal UniversityFaculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal UniversityFaculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal UniversityDongguan Nancheng Middle SchoolSchool of Psychology, University of AberdeenAbstract Background What is our immediate reaction when we witness someone experiencing pain? The empathy-altruism hypothesis predicts that observers would display empathy and a tendency to approach the person in pain. Alternatively, the threat value of pain hypothesis (TVPH) argues that others' pain serves as a signal of threat and should induce observers’ avoidance response. Methods To examine these two hypotheses, three experiments were conducted. The experiments aimed to investigate the impact of subliminal exposure to others' physical pain on participants' emotional and behavioural responses. Results The results revealed that subliminal pain priming resulted in faster response and attentional bias to fearful faces compared to sad faces (Experiment 1), faster reaction times in recognizing fear-related words compared to anger-related words during a lexical decision task (Experiment 2), and faster avoidance responses towards anger-related words, as opposed to approaching responses towards positive words (Experiment 3). Conclusions The consistent findings across all experiments revealed that subliminal perception of pain scenes elicited fear emotion and immediate avoidance responses. Therefore, the outcomes of our study provide supportive evidence for the TVPH.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01310-3Subliminal primingPain perceptionEmotional and behavioural responseThreat value of pain hypothesisEmpathy-altruism hypothesis |
| spellingShingle | Juan Song Zijing Zhao Zhibin Jiao Yao Peng Mingyuan Chu Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern BMC Psychology Subliminal priming Pain perception Emotional and behavioural response Threat value of pain hypothesis Empathy-altruism hypothesis |
| title | Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern |
| title_full | Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern |
| title_fullStr | Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern |
| title_full_unstemmed | Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern |
| title_short | Subliminal perception of others’ physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern |
| title_sort | subliminal perception of others physical pain induces personal distress rather than empathic concern |
| topic | Subliminal priming Pain perception Emotional and behavioural response Threat value of pain hypothesis Empathy-altruism hypothesis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01310-3 |
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