Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@distilledscience/video/7560819594894609694
Transcript
Three psychology facts to blow your mind. One, painkillers like Tylenol block emotional pain, like from being socially excluded. But this also makes them block empathy. Research showed that people could still understand why another person was in pain, but the painkillers stopped them from feeling distressed about it. Two, speaking of empathy. Turns out, empathy itself isn't innate. We learn it as infants from parents that mirror our facial expressions. And children of mothers who were depressed were shown to grow up with less empathy. for them because other brain imaging studies have shown that even adults can learn to improve their empathy in a way that actually thickens the areas of the brain that are associated with it. Three, and this one should really make you think. Most people are overconfident in almost everything, ranking themselves as above average at things ranging from reading, doing their job, and even personal hygiene. But out of the 20 skills that people were asked about in a study, and only one did people rank themselves typically below average. And that was talking to people. people, which is great news because it means when I completely bomb at parties, I'm actually average. Of course, if you tell people about this whole thing, I bet it'll make for a great conversation. And these all came from my friend Ben Rain's new book on the Neuroscience of Human Connection. Check it out if you want to use science to get better at humaning.
Additional notes
“I practiced small talk alone. Now I’m fluent in silence.” “I tried to break the ice. The ice pressed charges.” “Small talk is big pressure. It should be medium talk.” Thanks for sending, @avery_books ! @Dr. Ben Rein #science #psychology #education #neuroscience
References
- Dr. Ben Rein book on the neuroscience of human connection mentioned in transcript/caption; title/source URL not listed in workbook.
- Studies on Tylenol/emotional pain/empathy, parental mirroring and empathy, adult empathy training, and above-average-effect self-ratings are discussed in transcript; DOI/PMID/source links not listed in workbook.