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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Study: Men Enjoy Seeing Bad People Suffer |
| 2006-01-18 |
| Yeah. So? NEW YORK - Bill Clinton said he felt others' pain. But a new brain-scanning study suggests that when guys see a cheater get a mild electric shock, they don't feel his pain much at all. In fact, they rather enjoy it. Clinton? They could've used a better example here. In contrast, women's brains showed they do empathize with the cheater's pain and don't get a kick out it. I see they haven't got around to testing my wife yet... It's not clear whether this difference in schadenfreude — enjoyment of another's misfortune — results from basic biology or sex roles learned during life, researchers say. But it could help explain why men have historically taken charge of punishing criminals and others who violate societal rules, said researcher Dr. Klaas Stephan. Hey! Now I know what "schadenfreude" means! Stephan, a senior research fellow at the University College London, is co-author of a study led by Tania Singer at the college and published online Wednesday by the journal Nature. Singer, in an e-mail message, said the sex difference in results was a surprise and must be confirmed by larger studies. The researchers said women might have reacted like men if the cheater suffered psychological or financial pain instead. Tania will suffer some financial pain if they don't continue to fund this study. Hence the need for "larger studies". The scientists scanned the brains of 16 men and 16 women after the volunteers played a game with what they thought were other volunteers, but who in fact were actors. The actors either played the game fairly or obviously cheated. During the brain scans, each volunteer watched as the hands of a "fair" player and a cheater received a mild electrical shock. When it came to the fair-player, both men's and women's brains showed activation in pain-related areas, indicating that they empathized with that player's pain. Woah, that's gotta hurt... But for the cheater, while the women's brains still showed a response, men's brains showed virtually no specific reaction. Also, in another brain area associated with feelings of reward, men's brains showed a greater average response to the cheater's shock than to the fair player's shock, while women's brains did not. Die you cheatin bastard! Die! Die! Die! Shut up, Hillary! You're screwing up the experiment! A questionnaire revealed that the men expressed a stronger desire than women did for revenge against the cheater. The more a man said he wanted revenge, the higher his jump in the brain's reward area when the cheater got a shock. No such correlation showed up in women. They haven't tested any women I know. Philip Jackson, who studies brain systems responsible for empathy at the University of Laval in Quebec City in Canada, said he found the sex differences intriguing and worth following up on. Which is what those doing studies always say. He's probably filling out the paper work right now... The overall results elegantly tie together "a lot of things we either knew or suspected strongly" about how social interaction can affect the brain's activity, he said. ...but first, more, bigger and more expensive studies. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #14 a new study? Three Stooges popularity wasn't obvious enough? Men love it, women don't even try and get it... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-18 21:57 |
| #13 Study: Men Enjoy Seeing Bad People Suffer Another BGO (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious). It must have something to do with spending the past gazillion years being the one who has to go out and open up a can of whup@ss on the vermin who harm our women and children. F&%k with my loved ones even a tiny bit and only your hair won't hurt. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-01-18 21:44 |
| #12 But a new brain-scanning study suggests that when guys see a cheater get a mild electric shock, they don't feel his pain much at all. In fact, they rather enjoy it. Enjoy it? Hell, I'd like to be the one to push the button. Repeatedly. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-01-18 21:14 |
| #11 Lol, B-Man! Hyper - Ah, I get it, lol. Thx! I always thought it would have been a hoot to help invent the lexicon for such movies, heh. Z-Z does hit the spot, lol. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-18 16:27 |
| #10 .com- Judge Estogenocidia is fictitious, but the character is real (a la all real life one-legged revenge obsessed freaks are embodied in Ahab). P.S. loved the zug-zug reference... from perhaps the bast bad movie ever:) |
| Posted by: Hyper 2006-01-18 16:19 |
| #9 I don't like to see anyone suffer..., I must be gay. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-01-18 16:12 |
| #8 Hmmmmmmm.....I don't buy it. I've seen woman savage their cheatin' husbands for years, never letting go. Proving you can indeed get blood from a rock. She didn't feel his pain, she insured he'd feel it. Oh, and they share the moment for years and years with their cabal of friends. On the other hand, I've seen husbands just write it off [and write a number of child support checks] concerning cheating spouses. Now not every time, but certainly enough to question this study. |
| Posted by: Spinens Elmineter8832 2006-01-18 16:07 |
| #7 "Her Honor Judge Estrogenocidia" Huh? Lol, it's funny, but are you referring to a real person? Heh - how old is she? Boggle, lol. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-18 16:00 |
| #6 Sadly, this article, and .com's interesting theory, break down when it counts... ...family court presided over by Her Honor Judge Estrogenocidia! Ouch! |
| Posted by: Hyper 2006-01-18 15:58 |
| #5 LOL, tu! Excellent in-line comments, lol. I'll buy into the idea that if the pain had been psychological, rather than physical, the wymyns would've responded more like the myns. There is nothing on this Earth capable of more cruelty than a teen-aged femalian. Myns just beat each other up, heal, and prolly have a beer and laugh about it a week later. Hell, they can end up best friends if neither gives up too quickly and there's no "face" loss (only teeth and blood) involved. Femalians are very different. They say things to each other that penetrate all defenses - and never heal. Like rubber hoses delivered at light speed... the marks are all invisible, but they're there and they're mean brutal hurts. And worse - 30 years later the pain is as fresh as Day One. Vicious little shits, they are. I be sooooo glad to be a myn. I've always figured that this difference in the socialization process was part of why myns and wymyns are always talking past each other. We don't have all that much of an overlap when it comes to fears and pains, and only slightly more when it comes to rewards and joys. Long-time unfinished theory... |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-18 15:41 |
| #4 I'm not all woman, then? Won't my sweetie be surprised! ;) |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-01-18 15:40 |
| #3 Also explains why I want to see everybody in Congress with a (D) after their name wired up like that famous Abu Ghraib picture. |
| Posted by: BH 2006-01-18 15:30 |
| #2 Explains the appeal of 24, too. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2006-01-18 15:20 |
| #1 So is that why all the pussy-ass democrats feel bad for terrorists. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-01-18 15:18 |