A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy
Acetaminophen – a potent physical painkiller that also reduces empathy for other people’s suffering – blunts physical and social pain by reducing activation in brain areas (i.e. anterior insula and anterior cingulate) thought to be related to emotional awareness and motivation. Some neuroimaging res...
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doaj-70eb0734b35e4dc285d96ee5ec9bc9732020-11-24T22:15:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-03-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.00538424157A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive EmpathyDominik Mischkowski0Dominik Mischkowski1Jennifer Crocker2Baldwin M. Way3Baldwin M. Way4Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United StatesOhio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute, Ohio University, Athens, OH, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United StatesInstitute for Behavioral Medicine Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United StatesAcetaminophen – a potent physical painkiller that also reduces empathy for other people’s suffering – blunts physical and social pain by reducing activation in brain areas (i.e. anterior insula and anterior cingulate) thought to be related to emotional awareness and motivation. Some neuroimaging research on positive empathy (i.e., the perception and sharing of positive affect in other people) suggests that the experience of positive empathy also recruits these paralimbic cortical brain areas. We thus hypothesized that acetaminophen may also impair affective processes related to the experience of positive empathy. We tested this hypothesis in a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment. Specifically, we administered 1,000 mg acetaminophen or a placebo and measured effects on different measures of positive empathy while participants read scenarios about the uplifting experiences of other people. Results showed that acetaminophen reduced personal pleasure and other-directed empathic feelings in response to these scenarios. In contrast, effects on perceived positivity of the described experiences or perceived pleasure in scenario protagonists were not significant. These findings suggest that (1) acetaminophen reduces affective reactivity to other people’s positive experiences and (2) the experience of physical pain and positive empathy may have a more similar neurochemical basis than previously assumed. Because the experience of positive empathy is related to prosocial behavior, our findings also raise questions about the societal impact of excessive acetaminophen consumption.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00538/fullacetaminophenparacetamolpositive empathycyberballpsychopharmacology |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Dominik Mischkowski Dominik Mischkowski Jennifer Crocker Baldwin M. Way Baldwin M. Way |
spellingShingle |
Dominik Mischkowski Dominik Mischkowski Jennifer Crocker Baldwin M. Way Baldwin M. Way A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy Frontiers in Psychology acetaminophen paracetamol positive empathy cyberball psychopharmacology |
author_facet |
Dominik Mischkowski Dominik Mischkowski Jennifer Crocker Baldwin M. Way Baldwin M. Way |
author_sort |
Dominik Mischkowski |
title |
A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy |
title_short |
A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy |
title_full |
A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy |
title_fullStr |
A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy |
title_sort |
social analgesic? acetaminophen (paracetamol) reduces positive empathy |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2019-03-01 |
description |
Acetaminophen – a potent physical painkiller that also reduces empathy for other people’s suffering – blunts physical and social pain by reducing activation in brain areas (i.e. anterior insula and anterior cingulate) thought to be related to emotional awareness and motivation. Some neuroimaging research on positive empathy (i.e., the perception and sharing of positive affect in other people) suggests that the experience of positive empathy also recruits these paralimbic cortical brain areas. We thus hypothesized that acetaminophen may also impair affective processes related to the experience of positive empathy. We tested this hypothesis in a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment. Specifically, we administered 1,000 mg acetaminophen or a placebo and measured effects on different measures of positive empathy while participants read scenarios about the uplifting experiences of other people. Results showed that acetaminophen reduced personal pleasure and other-directed empathic feelings in response to these scenarios. In contrast, effects on perceived positivity of the described experiences or perceived pleasure in scenario protagonists were not significant. These findings suggest that (1) acetaminophen reduces affective reactivity to other people’s positive experiences and (2) the experience of physical pain and positive empathy may have a more similar neurochemical basis than previously assumed. Because the experience of positive empathy is related to prosocial behavior, our findings also raise questions about the societal impact of excessive acetaminophen consumption. |
topic |
acetaminophen paracetamol positive empathy cyberball psychopharmacology |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00538/full |
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