In the study outlined in the previous node, the distressed participants were split up into two groups: those who received Tylenol and those who received placebos before the virtual match. Not only did the placebo group report more hurt feelings from social rejection than those given Tylenol, but their brains showed higher activation of the anterior cingulate than the Tylenol group.

Grinnell College

Anxiety and hurtful feels that arise when one feels excluded (be it a team sport, a dinner party, or a breakup) can be categorized as social pain. In the brain, social rejection is a category of pain that isn’t too different from the pain that we feel after a physical injury, disproving the outdated saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Gender differences in bullying styles reiterate this ideal – while boys usually resort to physical bullying, girls tend to use social rejection to hurt each other. 
-	Evolutionary Explanations of Pain Associated with Social Rejection
-	Biological Basis of Pain Associated with Social Rejection
-	Tylenol for Pain Associated with Social Rejection 


The Pain of Social Rejection

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Stemming from the phenomenon of natural selection, pain transformed into a mechanism that shapes our social behavior that stops us from doing things that are bad for us. From an evolutionary perspective, we were dependent on others even during adulthood since being in a group would ensure protection from predators who were stronger than humans. Acting as a mechanism for survival (like hunger or thirst), the fatality associated with social rejection remained ingrained in us. 

Evolutionary Explanations of Pain Associated with Social Rejection 

Studies have found that social rejection activates the same pain regions as physical damage! In one such study, brain activity of participants was monitored in an fMRI machine while they played a game of catch that was curated to trick them into thinking that they were being intentionally excluded in a virtual game of catch.  Those who felt more distressed had higher activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, suggesting that the extent to which a person is upset by rejection correlates with the activation of the areas that process and allow us to feel pain. 

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