A difference between men and women
-
A difference between men and women
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Germans have a word for it -- schadenfreude -- and when it comes to getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune, men seem to enjoy it more than women.
Such is the conclusion reached by scientists at University College London in what they say is the first neuroscientific evidence of schadenfreude.
Using brain-imaging techniques, they compared how men and women reacted when watching other people suffer pain.
If the sufferer was someone they liked, areas of the brain linked to empathy and pain were activated in both sexes.
Women had a similar response if they disliked the person experiencing the pain but men showed a surge in the reward areas of the brain.
"The women had a diminished empathic response," said Dr Klaas Enoo Stephan, a co-author of the report. "But it was still there, whereas in the men it was completely absent," he added in an interview.
The scientists, who reported their findings in the journal Nature, said the research shows that empathic responses in men are shaped by the perceived fairness of others.
"Empathic responses to other people are not automatic, as has been assumed in the past, but depend on the emotional link to the person who is observed suffering," Stephan said.
In the two-part study, 32 men and women volunteers played a game in which they exchanged money with four other people who were actors playing a part.
The actors were either fair characters, who returned equal amounts of cash that have been given to them, or unfair people who gave little or no money back to the volunteers.
In the second part of the experiment, the volunteers were placed in magnetic imaging brain scanners as they watched the actors receiving a mild electric shock, similar to a bee sting.
The scientists measured reactions of the volunteers in areas of the brain associated with pain and empathy and reward while the actors experienced pain.
The responses shown in the brain images were backed up with questionnaires filled in by the volunteers. Men admitted to having a much higher desire for revenge than women and derived satisfaction from seeing the unfair person being punished.
"We will need to confirm these gender differences in larger studies because it is possible the experimental design favored men as there was a physical rather than psychological or financial threat involved," said Dr Tania Singer, who led the study.
Taken from Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060119/od_nm/science_revenge1_dc;_ylt=AsSZZKDYxAD5BO3ZulCQ6xPtiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA-- -
What do you guys think?
I wonder will they run anymore tests to substantiate the findings. So maybe guys are really more revengful then women?? -
Fuck stem cell research.
This research is way more important.
-
women.... pff
-
well ....... males have to fight over females rite?Originally posted by elindra:What do you guys think?
I wonder will they run anymore tests to substantiate the findings. So maybe guys are really more revengful then women?? -
Hmmm I see females fighting over males as well?Originally posted by InnoHippo:well ....... males have to fight over females rite? -
i think only applies to european men
-
actually ... I think it says that women are actually more cold blooded .... -
no i dont think that is the case...Originally posted by Angel†:i think only applies to european men
anyways i conclude from reading the just the posted article and fellow male friends aswell as being (dare i admit it here) a man. We like quick direct revenge. None of this calculating... "i'll get you one day" business.
as they say "hell has no fury like a woman scorn" or something like that -
if wan revenge, be quick and get it over with and not overdo it. angry? juz scold one line and end of issue, and have a better day tomorrow.
better den habouring a grudge for a decade and finally couldn't take it and blame others. -
Till I believe ladies are more likely to have revenge thinking thoughts
-
It shows that women are more sensitive and emphatic even to those they don't know or don't like.
-
Hot damn - I believe Rhonda will recall my saying a few months ago that schadenfreude is a seriously underrated pleasure.
-
The germans would say to this topic: Die Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude.Originally posted by Gedanken:Hot damn - I believe Rhonda will recall my saying a few months ago that schadenfreude is a seriously underrated pleasure. -
Hardly so. If it is your ultimate pleasure, I pity you.
-
It's what the germans say. Not what I say.Originally posted by Gedanken:Hardly so. If it is your ultimate pleasure, I pity you. -
Har?
Maybe guys are.... but the methods are more vicious from gals
-
What's the point of saying it if you don't mean it? Even worse, are you presenting a thought that is not your own?Originally posted by thinkdifferent:It's what the germans say. Not what I say.
Run along and play now. -
Tsk tsk - careless.Originally posted by thinkdifferent:The germans would say to this topic: Die Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude. -
Really? But i take lots of comfort in knowing about other's misfortunes.
HAHAHA perhaps i'm more guyish than i thought. -
probably just less emotionally evolved.. all the atavistic instincts of seeing ANY other potential challenger to food, women, caves, perish is worth the surge even if society conditions men to display suitable empathy. heehee. -snarl snarl-
Women on the other hand, reserve their most vicious revenges to those who threaten what they already have or think they already have. -
There is one issue about how the researchers attempted to answer the research question. Strictly speaking, schadenfreude is independent of the observer's feelings toward the actor. I expect that the game was intended to introduce a control condition, but to create a distinction between viewing the actor as fair or unfair does not really perform the role, since the control condition would be ambivalence (a neutral condition) towards the actor, rather than like or dislike. Effectively, they've ended up testing for neurological evidence of vengefulness or a sense of justice (depending on how you look at it) rather than schadenfreude.