Why does it hurt when you see others getting hurt?

We may feel heartbroken for the tragic life of the protagonist in a novel, cry silently for other people's love in the cinema, and sigh "I feel the pain" when we see a passerby fall heavily... Why do we feel "the pain is in your body, but in my heart" even though we haven't experienced all of this? This experience of feeling the pain of others is not uncommon, and it has a professional name: pain empathy.

Pain Empathy

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Part 1

The neural mechanism of "the pain is in your body, the pain is in my heart"

Empathy refers to an individual's sensitivity to the mental states of others, including a series of psychological processes such as being infected by the state of others, experiencing the same state as others, evaluating the causes of the state, and understanding the thoughts of others. It includes both simpler and more elementary emotional imitation and more complex and advanced perspective-taking.

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 pain, we can "feel" and experience their pain and sadness.

So how does this feeling of "I feel pain when others feel pain" come about? How is this pain similar to and different from the pain that happens to us?

The classic shared representation model of empathy states that the observer achieves empathy for others by calling upon the same neural representation as the observed. In this process, mirror neurons may be the basis for us to imitate the actions of others and understand their emotions.

Mirror neurons may be the reason why we imitate other people's actions.

The basis for understanding other people’s emotions

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Let's take the most common example: when others laugh, we can't help but laugh, and sometimes we can't even stop. This is mainly because when we observe other people's expressions and movements, the mirror mechanism in the brain makes us experience similar neurophysiological reactions and similar feelings, thus producing similar emotional states.

Similarly, observing others in pain triggers a neural response pattern that is very similar to when we experience pain ourselves, manifested in the activation of brain regions responsible for processing our own pain information (i.e., nociceptive stimuli). The activation of these regions allows individuals to experience emotional experiences that are extremely similar to those of personal pain when they perceive the pain of others.

Seeing others in pain can also cause us to experience similar emotions

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In other words, individuals simulate the pain state of others in their brains to create similar pain emotional experiences. This brain operation not only helps the observer activate the self-protection mechanism and escape from potential dangers in time, but also allows the observer to experience and understand the pain and negative emotions suffered by the observed person, prompting people to think from the perspective of others and perform pro-social and altruistic behaviors.

Part 2

Does pain empathy only affect pain perception?

Pain is a matter of life and death and is a very special feeling and emotional experience. Sudden pain often indicates danger and is of great significance to the survival of an individual. Therefore, even if the pain occurs to others rather than oneself, it will make the observer sensitive and alert. Researchers have found that when pain empathy is generated, individuals are more sensitive to the pain inflicted on themselves, which also provides evidence for the shared representation model of empathy.

However, is the sensitivity caused by pain empathy only directed at one's own pain perception? What impact does pain empathy have on our processing of non-noxious somatosensory stimuli (such as touch) and other sensory modality stimuli (such as hearing)?

To answer this question, a recent study first induced pain empathy in the observers by using pictures depicting other people's injuries, and then directly applied pain, touch or auditory stimulation to these observers. The results showed that pain empathy enhanced the subjective perception of pain, touch and auditory stimulation.

However, the psychological mechanism by which pain empathy affects pain is different from that of other sensory modalities. On the one hand, pain empathy can improve an individual's overall attention level, making the individual more sensitive to both painful and non-painful stimuli; on the other hand, pain empathy also evokes an individual's psychological response that is specific to pain perception, which makes people more concerned about the pain of others and more responsive to their own pain.

Pain empathy enhances an individual's subjective perception of pain, touch, and auditory stimuli, but the psychological mechanisms involved are different

(Image source: Document 6)

Part 3

When it comes to pain empathy, not everyone is equal

Although pain empathy is common to everyone in most cases and is not unique to humans, it is not difficult to find in life that people do not have the same degree of pain empathy for everyone, nor do they have strong pain empathy in all situations.

For example, when watching sports events such as boxing, or when the "bad guys" in movies are hurt, we can temporarily "turn off" our empathy and be indifferent to their pain. This is mainly because pain empathy is affected by many factors such as personal experience, interpersonal relationships, and psychological state.

First, it is one’s own pain sensitivity. Generally speaking, individuals with higher pain sensitivity have a stronger level of empathy for the pain of others, and will have stronger emotions and pain cognition towards the pain of others.

Comforting Others

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Secondly, it is group identity. Compared with strangers, people are more likely to feel pain empathy for their relatives and loved ones; compared with foreigners, people are more likely to feel pain empathy for their own countrymen; even mice will only help their companions who are kept in the same cage, not in different cages, to avoid pain.

People are more likely to feel pain empathy for their own people than for foreigners

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Thirdly, it is the vulnerability of the observed. In life, people tend to show more pain empathy to vulnerable groups, because the physical or psychological vulnerability of vulnerable groups will arouse more empathy and concern.

It can be seen from this that pain empathy not only has individual differences, but also has certain preferences.

However, pain empathy is not in a fixed and unchanging state. Although a person's empathy ability is relatively stable in adulthood, we can still cultivate and develop pain empathy to a certain extent. On the one hand, enriching our own experience and cultivating our sensitivity to the pain emotions of others can help us identify and judge the pain of others more quickly; on the other hand, social interaction is an important way to understand others and "feel the same" with others, so through more social interaction methods such as music or dance training, we can help us understand the pain of others from their perspective.

Empathy with others means better social communication, more trust and cooperation, and is a powerful guarantee for promoting harmonious social development. Pain empathy can not only make individuals sensitive to the needs of others, such as helping parents to better care for and protect their children, but also allow individuals to understand and sympathize with the painful situations of others and provide help.

Caregivers and the elderly live in harmony

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In-depth exploration of pain empathy mechanisms, influencing factors, and regulatory methods will help us conduct more effective and precise interventions on groups with abnormal empathy abilities (such as autistic children and schizophrenia patients) and create a more harmonious and friendly social environment.

References:

1. Ren Qiaoyue, Sun Yuanmiao, Lü Xuejing, et al. Research on empathy based on psychophysiological perspective: methods and characteristics. Chinese Science Bulletin 2019;64(22):2292-304.

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4. Lamm C, Decety J, Singer T. Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain. NeuroImage 2011;54(3):2492-502.

5. Loggia ML, Mogil JS, Bushnell MC. Empathy hurts: compassion for another increases both sensory and affective components of pain perception. Pain 2008;136(1-2):168-76.

6. Ren Q, Yang Y, Wo Y, et al. Different priming effects of empathy on neural processing associated with firsthand pain and nonpain perception. Ann NY Acad Sci. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14723

7. Ren Q, Lu X, Zhao Q, et al. Can self-pain sensitivity quantify empathy for others' pain? Psychophysiology2020;57:e13637.

8. Xu, X, Zuo X, Wang X, et al. Do you feel my pain? Racial group membership modulates empathic neural responses. J Neurosci 2009; 29:8525-8529.

9. Ben-Ami Bartal I, Breton JM, Sheng H, et al. Neural correlates of ingroup bias for prosociality in rats. Elife 2021;10

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Produced by: Lü Xuejing

Unit: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Producer: Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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