美国国家公共电台 NPR Tylenol May Help Ease The Pain Of Hurt Feelings

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Many people reach for Tylenol to ease aches and pains. And it turns out Tylenol may do more than relieve physical pain. Studies show it may help to ease hurt feelings. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE¹: Most of us don't like that feeling of being left out. And when it happens, Psychologist Nathan DeWall says we tend to explain it this way.

NATHAN DEWALL: When people talk about feeling excluded, they often use the same words that they would use for physical pain. They say, I feel hurt.

AUBREY: So if we describe, say, a tooth ache or a broken bone the same way we describe the pain of a social slight, maybe the two types of pain have more in common than we'd realized. DeWall, who's a professor at the University of Kentucky, was curious. So he and his collaborators designed an experiment. They recruited a bunch of volunteers to participate in a virtual game. It was a simple ball toss. Now, before the game started, some of the participants were given acetaminophen, which is the active ingredient in Tylenol.

Others were given a placebo² pill. None of them knew which one they were given.

DEWALL: And in this game, all that they had to do was press button boxes to throw the ball to two virtual players.

AUBREY: Now, at first, all the players tossed to each other. But after a few minutes, the game was rigged to make each player feel excluded.

DEWALL: Imagine yourself being in the situation. You're throwing the ball back and forth³ to these strangers. And then suddenly, they just stop throwing you the ball for no reason. That's the pain of social rejection⁴.

AUBREY: Now, what DeWall found is that people who'd been given Tylenol were not too upset by this experience. But he saw a different reaction in the placebo group. He gauged⁵ their responses by analyzing⁶ brain scans.

DEWALL: Among people who took the placebo pills, what you find is that when they experience that pain of rejection, that parts of their brain were activated⁷ that are similar to if they had stubbed their toe or experienced other sorts of physical pain. But people who took the painkillers⁸ didn't show it as much.

AUBREY: And how strong is this effect? I mean, imagining if Tylenol really does have this power to ease our hurt feelings, that we might have known about it before now.

DEWALL: You know, I would say, you know, what we found is people still know that they're getting left out. It just doesn't bother them as much.

AUBREY: Follow-up studies suggests that Tylenol may have a range of subtle psychological effects. It seems to dampen emotional highs and lows. It can also increase the ability to just tune⁹ out. Todd Handy of the University of British Columbia, who's done some of this research, says what seems to happen when people take Tylenol is this.

TODD HANDY: They're shutting stuff out a lot more effectively than people who aren't on Tylenol. It's just reducing a little bit our propensity¹⁰ to evaluate what's happening around us.

AUBREY: Now, whether these effects are good or bad depends on the context. Researcher Baldwin Way of Ohio State says there's value in knowing the drug's potential effects on our emotions. And he says in some instances, this emotional dampening could work against us.

BALDWIN WAY: If you're speaking to your romantic partner and their emotions are blunted and you're telling something that was a very big heart ache or something that was very exciting to you and they react blunted and less emotional, that can probably have a negative effect.

AUBREY: On the other hand, say you're anxious about a medical procedure, a social situation or a job interview.

WAY: Maybe having a little blunted emotions might actually help you perform more effectively.

AUBREY: Now, no one is recommending that people start popping Tylenol regularly to protect against social pain. Taking Tylenol, especially for extended periods, can be risky¹¹.

Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

5 gauged   

adj.校准的；标准的；量规的；量计的v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；计量；划分

参考例句：

• He picked up the calipers and gauged carefully. 他拿起卡钳仔细测量。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Distance is gauged by journey time rather than miles. 距离以行程时间而非英里数来计算。 来自辞典例句

6 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

7 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

8 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分

9 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

10 propensity   

n.倾向；习性

参考例句：

• He has a propensity for drinking too much alcohol.他有酗酒的倾向。
• She hasn't reckoned on his propensity for violence.她不曾料到他有暴力倾向。

11 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。