Acetaminophen Reduces Social Pain: Behavioral and Neural Evidence
Abstract
Pain, whether caused by physical injury or social rejection, is an inevitable part of life. These two types of pain-physical and social-may rely on some of the same behavioral and neural mechanisms that register pain-related affect. To the extent that these pain processes overlap, acetaminophen, a physical pain suppressant that acts through central (rather than peripheral) neural mechanisms, may also reduce behavioral and neural responses to social rejection. In two experiments, participants took acetaminophen or placebo daily for 3 weeks. Doses of acetaminophen reduced reports of social pain on a daily basis (Experiment 1). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure participants' brain activity (Experiment 2), and found that acetaminophen reduced neural responses to social rejection in brain regions previously associated with distress caused by social pain and the affective component of physical pain (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula). Thus, acetaminophen reduces behavioral and neural responses associated with the pain of social rejection, demonstrating substantial overlap between social and physical pain.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Healthy young adults randomly assigned to take acetaminophen twice a day for 3 weeks exhibited significantly fewer hurt feelings on a daily basis and less neural sensitivity to a laboratory-based episode of social rejection compared to placebo.
“healthy young adults who were randomly assigned to take acetaminophen twice a day for 3 weeks exhibited significantly fewer hurt feelings on a daily basis and less neural sensitivity to a laboratory-based episode of social rejection (i.e., Cyberball) compared to their counterparts in the placebo condition”
From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as DeWall et al., 2010
Cites
Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion
Eisenberger, N. I., Lieberman, M. D., & Williams, K. D. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1089134 · Cited by 3,849 · see citing works
Self-citationPain Affect Encoded in Human Anterior Cingulate But Not Somatosensory Cortex
Rainville, P., Duncan, G. H., Price, D. D., Carrier, B., & Bushnell, M. C. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.277.5328.968 · Cited by 2,629 · see citing works
Cyberostracism: effects of being ignored over the Internet
Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.748 · Cited by 2,276 · see citing works
Why Does Social Exclusion Hurt? The Relationship Between Social and Physical Pain.
MacDonald, G., & Leary, M. R. (2005) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.2.202 · Cited by 1,712 · see citing works
Self-citationParacetamol (Acetaminophen): mechanisms of action
ANDERSON, B. J. (2008) · Pediatric Anesthesia · doi:10.1111/j.1460-9592.2008.02764.x · Cited by 497 · see citing works
The causes, phenomenology, and consequences of hurt feelings.
Leary, M. R., Springer, C., Negel, L., Ansell, E., & Evans, K. (1998) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1225 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
Smith, W. K. (1945) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1945.8.4.241 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
Hurt feelings: The neglected emotion.
Leary, M. R., & Springer, C. A. (2001) · Behaving badly: Aversive behaviors in interpersonal relationships. · doi:10.1037/10365-006 · Cited by 232 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Leary and Springer (2001) showed that this measure of hurt feelings relates specifically to the experience of social exclusion and cannot be reduced to other negative emotions.”
BackgroundMethodUnderstanding Genetic Risk for Aggression: Clues From the Brain’s Response to Social Exclusion
Eisenberger, N. I., Way, B. M., Taylor, S. E., Welch, W. T., & Lieberman, M. D. (2007) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.08.007 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Slavich, G. M., & Irwin, M. R. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0035302 · Cited by 2,206 · see citing works
Eisenberger, N. I. (2012) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3231 · Cited by 1,016 · see citing works
Self-citationThe neurobiology of rewards and values in social decision making
Ruff, C. C., & Fehr, E. (2014) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3776 · Cited by 716 · see citing works
More than skin deep: Stress neurobiology and mental health consequences of racial discrimination
Berger, M., & Sarnyai, Z. (2015) · Stress · doi:10.3109/10253890.2014.989204 · Cited by 606 · see citing works
Emotional foundations of cognitive control
Inzlicht, M., Bartholow, B. D., & Hirsh, J. B. (2015) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2015.01.004 · Cited by 542 · see citing works
Slavich, G. M. (2020) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045159 · Cited by 502 · see citing works
Loneliness in the Modern Age: An Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness (ETL)
Cacioppo, J. T., & Cacioppo, S. (2018) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2018.03.003 · Cited by 481 · see citing works
A biopsychosocial formulation of pain communication.
Hadjistavropoulos, T., Craig, K. D., Duck, S., Cano, A., Goubert, L., Jackson, P. L., Mogil, J. S., Rainville, P., Sullivan, M. J. L., Williams, A. C. D. C., et al. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0023876 · Cited by 466 · see citing works
Why Do People Hurt Themselves? A New Conceptual Model of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
Hooley, J., & Franklin, J. (2018) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702617745641 · Cited by 357 · see citing works
“the physical pain-killer acetaminophen reduces emotional pain in response to a social exclusion manipulation, and this is mediated in part by anterior cingulate and anterior insula activity (DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSocial Pain and the Brain: Controversies, Questions, and Where to Go from Here
Eisenberger, N. I. (2014) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115146 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
“Likewise, Tylenol R© (generic names: acetaminophen, paracetamol), which is known to reduce physical pain, has been shown to reduce hurt feelings as well as dACC and AI activity in response to social exclusion (DeWall et al. 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationA meta-analysis of the anterior cingulate contribution to social pain
Rotge, J.-Y., Lemogne, C., Hinfray, S., Huguet, P., Grynszpan, O., Tartour, E., George, N., & Fossati, P. (2015) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsu110 · Cited by 325 · see citing works
Yovell, Y., Bar, G., Mashiah, M., Baruch, Y., Briskman, I., Asherov, J., Lotan, A., Rigbi, A., & Panksepp, J. (2016) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15040535 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Separate neural representations for physical pain and social rejection
Woo, C.-W., Koban, L., Kross, E., Lindquist, M. A., Banich, M. T., Ruzic, L., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., & Wager, T. D. (2014) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms6380 · Cited by 310 · see citing works
Meyer, M. L., Masten, C. L., Ma, Y., Wang, C., Shi, Z., Eisenberger, N. I., & Han, S. (2012) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nss019 · Cited by 277 · see citing works
“…social exclusion, suggesting that the distress associated with social exclusion relies on shared neural systems as those coding for the affective component of pain, a phenomenon referred to as 'social pain' (Eisenberger et al., 2003, 2004; MacDonald and Leary, 2005; DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationSocial Acceptance and Rejection: The Sweet and the Bitter
DeWall, C. N., & Bushman, B. J. (2011) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721411417545 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
Self-citationResponse of the μ-opioid system to social rejection and acceptance
Hsu, D. T., Sanford, B. J., Meyers, K. K., Love, T. M., Hazlett, K. E., Wang, H., Ni, L., Walker, S. J., Mickey, B. J., Korycinski, S. T., et al. (2013) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/mp.2013.96 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
Social exclusion and punishment of excluders: Neural correlates and developmental trajectories
Gunther Moor, B., Güroğlu, B., Op de Macks, Z. A., Rombouts, S. A. R. B., Van der Molen, M. W., & Crone, E. A. (2012) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.07.028 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Do neural responses to rejection depend on attachment style? An fMRI study
DeWall, C. N., Masten, C. L., Powell, C., Combs, D., Schurtz, D. R., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2012) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsq107 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Self-citationTime spent with friends in adolescence relates to less neural sensitivity to later peer rejection
Masten, C. L., Telzer, E. H., Fuligni, A. J., Lieberman, M. D., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2012) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsq098 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Self-citationHsu, D. T., Sanford, B. J., Meyers, K. K., Love, T. M., Hazlett, K. E., Walker, S. J., Mickey, B. J., Koeppe, R. A., Langenecker, S. A., & Zubieta, J.-K. (2015) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/mp.2014.185 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Stigma and the Toll of Addiction
Volkow, N. D. (2020) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmp1917360 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
The neural sociometer: brain mechanisms underlying state self-esteem
Eisenberger, N. I., Inagaki, T. K., Muscatell, K. A., Byrne Haltom, K. E., & Leary, M. R. (2011) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00027 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
“…been shown to be activated by experiences of interpersonal rejection and to correlate with self-reported distress in response to these experiences (DeWall et al., 2010, in press; Masten et al., 2009; Onoda et al., 2009; Eisenberger, Taylor, et al., 2007; Kross et al., 2007; Eisenberger et al.,…”
BackgroundSelf-citationSocial Pain and Physical Pain: Shared Paths To Resilience
Sturgeon, J. A., & Zautra, A. J. (2016) · Pain Management · doi:10.2217/pmt.15.56 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
The Addictive Model of Self-Harming (Non-suicidal and Suicidal) Behavior
Blasco-Fontecilla, H., Fernández-Fernández, R., Colino, L., Fajardo, L., Perteguer-Barrio, R., & de Leon, J. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00008 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Chronic social exclusion and evidence for the resignation stage
Riva, P., Montali, L., Wirth, J. H., Curioni, S., & Williams, K. D. (2016) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/0265407516644348 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
“Previous research showed that an over-the-counter painkiller known to reduce acute physical pain could also reduce acute social pain (DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundEffects of serotonin 2A/1A receptor stimulation on social exclusion processing
Preller, K. H., Pokorny, T., Hock, A., Kraehenmann, R., Stämpfli, P., Seifritz, E., Scheidegger, M., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1524187113 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Interpersonal Affect Dynamics: It Takes Two (and Time) to Tango
Butler, E. (2015) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073915590622 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
“A classic example is a double-blind study in which participants were randomly assigned to take acetaminophen or placebo daily for 3 weeks, while also recording their daily experiences of social pain (DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundBeyond metaphor: Contrasting mechanisms of social and physical pain
Iannetti, G. D., Salomons, T. V., Moayedi, M., Mouraux, A., & Davis, K. D. (2013) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.06.002 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
DeWall, C. N., Deckman, T., Pond, R. S., & Bonser, I. (2010) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00695.x · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Self-citationThe consequences of pain: The social and physical pain overlap on psychological responses
Riva, P., Wirth, J. H., & Williams, K. D. (2011) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.837 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
“Following Panksepp and colleagues’ early suggestion, several authors investigated whether similar neural brain circuitries are delegated to detect, process, and regulate both social and physical pain in social animals and humans (DeWall et al., 2010; Eisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams, 2003).”
BackgroundFrom painkiller to empathy killer: acetaminophen (paracetamol) reduces empathy for pain
Mischkowski, D., Crocker, J., & Way, B. M. (2016) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsw057 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Social Exclusion and the Desire to Reconnect
DeWall, C. N., & Richman, S. B. (2011) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00383.x · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Self-citationJi, Y.-L., Azuine, R. E., Zhang, Y., Hou, W.-P., Hong, X., Wang, G.-Y., Riley, A., Pearson, C., Zuckerman, B., & Wang, X.-B. (2020) · JAMA psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.3259 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
What Is It like to Feel Another's Pain?
de Vignemont, F., & Jacob, P. (2012) · Philosophy of Science · doi:10.1086/664742 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
“Interestingly, a common painkiller was shown to be efficacious in preventing social pain as well as standard pain (Dewall et al. 2010).”
BackgroundA Little Acceptance Goes a Long Way
DeWall, C., Twenge, J., Bushman, B., Im, C., & Williams, K. (2010) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550610361387 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
“Parallel effects were found for negative affect, as predicted by Berkowitz (1983) and others (e.g., Baumeister et al., 2007; DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationEisenberger, N. I. (2012) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721411429455 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
“We have also explored whether certain medications typically thought to reduce physical pain, like Tylenol (generic name: acetaminophen), could also reduce social pain (DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationHow the brain reacts to social stress (exclusion) – A scoping review
Wang, H., Braun, C., & Enck, P. (2017) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.012 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
“Other studies also have shown that Acetaminophen reduced the dACC and AI activations, and the 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine alleviated perception of social exclusion by reducing participants’ subjective report of negative mood (Dewall et al 2010, Frye et al 2014).”
An fMRI Investigation of Attributing Negative Social Treatment to Racial Discrimination
Masten, C. L., Telzer, E. H., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2010) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2010.21520 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Self-citationWarm It Up with Love: The Effect of Physical Coldness on Liking of Romance Movies
Hong, J.-W., & Sun, Y. (2012) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/662613 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
“DOI: 10.1086/662613 Warm It Up with Love: The Effect of Physical Coldness on Liking of”
BackgroundInfluentialOstracism and social exclusion: Implications for separation, social isolation, and loss.
Williams, K., & Nida, S. (2022) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101353 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Howe, C., & Sullivan, M. (2014) · General Hospital Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2013.10.003 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
“Acetaminophen has been shown in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study to reduce hurt feelings in response to experimental social exclusion [106].”
BackgroundNarcissists’ social pain seen only in the brain
Cascio, C. N., Konrath, S. H., & Falk, E. B. (2015) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsu072 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Social exclusion reliably engages the default network: A meta-analysis of Cyberball
Mwilambwe-Tshilobo, L., & Spreng, R. N. (2020) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117666 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Novembre, G., Zanon, M., & Silani, G. (2015) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsu038 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Schneider, P., Bindila, L., Schmahl, C., Bohus, M., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Lutz, B., Spanagel, R., & Schneider, M. (2016) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00203 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Parker, W., Hornik, C. D., Bilbo, S. D., Holzknecht, Z. E., Gentry, L., Rao, R., Lin, S. S., Herbert, M. R., & Nevison, C. D. (2017) · Journal of International Medical Research · doi:10.1177/0300060517693423 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
“In addition to reducing fever and physical pain, acetaminophen has a profound effect on adult brain function, blunting the response to both negative and positive stimuli, including threatening stimuli,(151,152) and reducing behavioral responses to social rejection.(153) Further, the drug impairs the ability of adults…”
BackgroundEffects of opioid- and non-opioid analgesics on responses to psychosocial stress in humans
Bershad, A. K., Miller, M. A., Norman, G. J., & de Wit, H. (2018) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.04.009 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
“It is possible that interactions between these drugs and acute stress might be detected at other doses, or with repeated administration of the drugs (DeWall et al., 2010).”
Slavich, G. M., Tartter, M. A., Brennan, P. A., & Hammen, C. (2014) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.07.009 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
“Finally, a central analgesic has been shown to blunt neural responses to social rejection in brain systems that have been implicated in processing experiences of physical and social pain (Dewall et al., 2010).”
Prayer, self-affirmation, and distraction improve recovery from short-term ostracism
Hales, A. H., Wesselmann, E. D., & Williams, K. D. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2016.01.002 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Lankford, A. (2013) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.51-2152 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Acetaminophen Differentially Enhances Social Behavior and Cortical Cannabinoid Levels in Inbred Mice
Gould, G., Seillier, A., Weiss, G., Giuffrida, A., Burke, T. F., Hensler, J., Rock, C., Tristan, A. R., McMahon, L., Salazar, A., et al. (2012) · Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2012.04.011 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
A focused attention intervention for coping with ostracism.
Molet, M., Macquet, B., Lefebvre, O., & Williams, K. (2013) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2013.08.010 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
“…experience of ostracism have largely been unsuccessful (Williams, 2009), with the exception of taking large and continuous doses of acetaminophen (DeWall et al., 2010), and stimulating the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (RVPF) (Riva, Romero Lauro, 1053-8100/$ - see front matter 2013…”
BackgroundWhen Pain Does Not Heal: The Common Antecedents and Consequences of Chronic Social and Physical Pain
Riva, P., Wesselmann, E. D., Wirth, J. H., Carter‐Sowell, A. R., & Williams, K. D. (2014) · Basic and Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/01973533.2014.917975 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“Even though acute social pain has not yet been investigated as thoroughly as physical pain, a growing body of research suggests that social pain has several commonalities with physical pain (e.g., DeWall et al., 2010; Riva, Wirth, & Williams, 2011).”
BackgroundCheek, S. M., Reiter-Lavery, T., & Goldston, D. B. (2020) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101936 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Pharmacological Challenge Studies with Acute Psychosocial Stress
van Hedger, K., Bershad, A., & de Wit, H. (2017) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.08.020 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Yeung, E. W., Arewasikporn, A., & Zautra, A. (2012) · Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1521/jscp.2012.31.6.593 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
“Analgesics, such as acetaminophen, have been found to reduce pain elicited from social exclusion paradigms (DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundMindfulness meditation regulates anterior insula activity during empathy for social pain.
Laneri, D., Krach, S., Paulus, F. M., Kanske, P., Schuster, V., Sommer, J., & Müller‐Pinzler, L. (2017) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.23646 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“Neuroimaging and pharmacological studies support this conceptual overlap indicating some common pathways involved in processing both social and physical pain [Dewall et al., 2010; Kross et al., 2011; Paulus et al., 2015b].”
BackgroundFuture Directions in Peer Relations Research
Prinstein, M. J., & Giletta, M. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2020.1756299 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
“…overlap in physical vs. social pain sensitivity (Bernstein & Claypool, 2012; Eisenberger et al., 2006), and have suggested that common physical pain-relief substances (e.g., endogenous opioids, morphine, acetaminophen) reduce social pain as well (e.g., Dewall et al., 2010; Machin & Dunbar, 2011).”
BackgroundOnce hurt, twice shy: Social pain contributes to social anxiety.
Fung, K., & Alden, L. E. (2016) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0000223 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Changing the narrative: Loneliness as a social justice issue
Barreto, M., Doyle, D. M., & Qualter, P. (2024) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12965 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
“…are also being seriously considered to reduce the behavioral effects of social isolation, or to dampen the fear and stress responses that contribute to the emergence and perpetuation of loneliness (Cacioppo et al., 2014, 2015; Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2015; DeWall et al., 2010; Entis, 2019).”
BackgroundThe opioid system and the social brain: implications for depression and suicide
Lutz, P., Courtet, P., & Calati, R. (2020) · Journal of Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1002/jnr.24269 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“First, it has been suggested that analgesics typically employed in the management of physical pain also show some efficacy against social pain (Dewall et al. 2010).”
BackgroundEl-Ghffar, E. A. A., Al‐Sayed, E., Shehata, S. M., Eldahshan, O., & Efferth, T. (2018) · Food & Function · doi:10.1039/c8fo00538a · Cited by 53
Reduced empathic responses for sexually objectified women: An fMRI investigation
Cogoni, C., Carnaghi, A., & Silani, G. (2017) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.11.020 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Correlates of Social Exclusion in Social Anxiety Disorder: An fMRI study
Heeren, A., Dricot, L., Billieux, J., Philippot, P., Grynberg, D., de Timary, P., & Maurage, P. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-00310-9 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Midnight in Paris: on heritage and nostalgia
Chark, R. (2021) · Annals of Tourism Research · doi:10.1016/j.annals.2021.103266 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Oka, H., Matsudaira, K., Takano, Y., Kasuya, D., Niiya, M., Tonosu, J., Fukushima, M., Oshima, Y., Fujii, T., Tanaka, S., et al. (2018) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine · doi:10.1186/s12906-018-2087-y · Cited by 45
“A recent placebo-controlled trial has shown that acetaminophen is effective not only for physical pain but also for psychogenic pain or anxiety [19, 20].”
BackgroundA Social Analgesic? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Reduces Positive Empathy
Mischkowski, D. , Crocker, J., & Way, B. M. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00538 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Lindner, C., Dannlowski, U., Walhöfer, K., Rödiger, M., Maisch, B., Bauer, J., Ohrmann, P., Lencer, R., Zwitserlood, P., Kersting, A., et al. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085014 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“The insula, which is implicated in the processing of facial expressions of disgust, also seems to be involved in the experience of social rejection and social pain [20,21].”
BackgroundEmotion Regulation Following Social Exclusion: Psychological and Behavioral Strategies
Riva, P. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33033-4_10 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Lin, F., Zivadinov, R., Hagemeier, J., Weinstock‐Guttman, B., Vaughn, C. B., Gandhi, S., Jakimovski, D., Hulst, H. E., Benedict, R. H. B., Bergsland, N., et al. (2018) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal · doi:10.1177/1352458518788218 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Bad guys suffer less (social pain): Moral status influences judgements of others’ social suffering
Riva, P., Brambilla, M., & Vaes, J. (2015) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12114 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“Another important type of pain that is currently attracting research attention is social pain, that is the pain caused by the threatened or actual loss of social connections (Eisenberger, 2010).”
The push of social pain: Does rejection’s sting motivate subsequent social reconnection?
Chester, D. S., DeWall, C. N., & Pond, R. S. (2016) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-016-0412-9 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Self-citationCan Marijuana Reduce Social Pain?
Deckman, T., DeWall, C., Way, B. M., Gilman, R., & Richman, S. B. (2014) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550613488949 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“DeWall et al. (2010) found that giving participants acetaminophen, a physical pain suppressant, reduced the amount of daily social pain they experienced.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationSchneider, P., Hannusch, C., Schmahl, C., Bohus, M., Spanagel, R., & Schneider, M. (2014) · European Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.04.004 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Experimental social rejection has also been shown to acutely alter nociception in humans (Bernstein and Claypool, 2012), with severe exclusion scenarios inducing hypoalgesia (Bernstein and Claypool, 2012; DeWall et al., 2010) but less severe scenarios resulting in hyperalgesia (Bernstein and Claypool, 2012).”
BackgroundA Penny for Your Pain? The Financial Compensation of Social Pain After Exclusion
Lelieveld, G., Moor, B. G., Crone, E. A., Karremans, J. C., & van Beest, I. (2012) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550612446661 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Only a few factors have been shown to mitigate the distress caused by social exclusion, such as the physical pain reliever acetaminophen (DeWall et al., 2010), secure attachment partners (Karremans, Heslenfeld, Van Dillen, & Van Lange, in press), and a (symbolic) threat to survival (Van Beest, Williams, & Van Dijk, 20…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialGlowacki, L. (2022) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x22002862 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Anxiety‐ and activity‐related effects of paracetamol on healthy and neuropathic rats
Chen, Z., Wei, H., Pertovaara, A., Wang, J., & Carlson, S. (2017) · Pharmacology Research & Perspectives · doi:10.1002/prp2.367 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“Treatment had a significant effect on the time the groups spent in the light box (F(2,15) = 4.”
BackgroundInfluentialThe devil wears P rada: Advertisements of luxury brands evoke feelings of social exclusion
Jiang, M., Gao, D., Huang, R., DeWall, C. N., & Zhou, X. (2014) · Asian Journal Of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/ajsp.12069 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationVulnerabilities in social anxiety: Integrating intra- and interpersonal perspectives
Ginat-Frolich, R., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Huppert, J. D., Aderka, I. M., Alden, L. E., Bar-Haim, Y., Becker, E. S., Bernstein, A., Geva, R., Heimberg, R. G., et al. (2024) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102415 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Rudolph, K. D., Davis, M. M., Modi, H. H., Fowler, C. H., Kim, Y., & Telzer, E. H. (2018) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1111/jora.12458 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“Social pain theory proposes that threats to one’s sense of social connectedness, such as exposure to social exclusion, induce neural activation in regions of the brain involved in affective responses to physical pain (DeWall et al., 2010; Eisenberger, 2012; Lieberman & Eisenberger, 2006).”
BackgroundIs There Such a Thing as Psychological Pain? and Why It Matters
Biro, D. E. (2010) · Culture Medicine and Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s11013-010-9190-y · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“This same novel way of thinking led DeWall et al. (2010) to administer physical pain medication (acetaminophen) to people suffering from psychological hurt, and not unsurprisingly, it seemed to work.”
BackgroundCan acetaminophen reduce the pain of decision-making?
DeWall, C., Chester, D., & White, D. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.09.006 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“These effects were unique to a rejected task, which is consistent with previous evidence that acetaminophen reduces the impact of negatively valenced outcomes but not does influence positively valenced outcomes (DeWall et al., 2010; Randles et al., 2013).”
BackgroundMethodResultSelf-citationMaternal Biomarkers of Acetaminophen Use and Offspring Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Ji, Y.-L., Riley, A., Lee, L.-C., Hong, X., Wang, G.-Y., Tsai, H.-J., Mueller, N., Pearson, C., Thermitus, J., Panjwani, A., et al. (2018) · Brain Science · doi:10.3390/brainsci8070127 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Dong, T. S., Gee, G. C., Beltrán‐Sánchez, H., Wang, M. D., Osadchiy, V., Kilpatrick, L. A., Chen, Z., Subramanyam, V., Zhang, Y., Guo, Y., et al. (2022) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.10.011 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“The anterior insula, together with the SMN, has been implicated in social pain and, as a result, in physical pain due to distress associated with exclusion (83–85).”
Adolescent social rejection alters pain processing in a CB1 receptor dependent manner
Schneider, P., Pätz, M., Spanagel, R., & Schneider, M. (2016) · European Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.04.007 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Jonassen, R., Hilland, E., Harmer, C. J., Abebe, D., Bergem, A. K., & Skarstein, S. O. (2021) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-021-12054-3 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Intimacy, Loneliness & Infidelity
Rokach, A., & Philibert-Lignières, G. (2015) · The Open Psychology Journal · doi:10.2174/1874350101508010071 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“When their belongingness is threatened and when their feelings of alienation intensify, people may either work hard to regain their partner’s regard, or start looking somewhere else [33].”
BackgroundEvolutionary Perspective on Social Anxiety
Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Shachar, I., & Helpman, L. (2014) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-394427-6.00021-2 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Pfundmair, M., Aydin, N., Frey, D., & Echterhoff, G. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.07.016 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Büttner, C. M., Jauch, M., Marinucci, M., Williams, K. D., Greifeneder, R., Riva, P., & Rudert, S. C. (2023) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/13684302221140002 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Sex and Death: Gender Differences in Aggression and Motivations for Violence
McDermott, R. (2015) · International Organization · doi:10.1017/s0020818315000065 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“DeWall et al. 2010.”
Frumkin, M., Robinaugh, D., LeBlanc, N., Ahmad, Z. N., Bui, E., Nock, M., Simon, N., & McNally, R. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.23024 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“…that relieve physical pain, such as acetaminophen, marijuana, and opioids, also appear to reduce pain affect associated with loneliness, social rejection, and separation distress (Deckman, DeWall, Way, Gilman, & Richman, 2014; DeWall et al., 2010; Panksepp, Herman, Conner, Bishop, & Scott, 1978).”
BackgroundWesselmann, E. D., Williams, K. D., Ren, D., & Hales, A. H. (2013) · The Handbook of Solitude · doi:10.1002/9781118427378.ch13 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Paracetamol—The outcome on neurotransmission and spatial learning in rats
Blecharz‐Klin, K., Piechal, A., Pyrzanowska, J., Joniec‐Maciejak, I., Kiliszek, P., & Widy‐Tyszkiewicz, E. (2013) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2013.07.008 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Öktem, E. Ö., & Çankaya, Ş. (2021) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.95276 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“The studies with paracetamol show that it might decrease psychological reactivity and alter the pain empathy in healthy human subjects [35, 36].”
BackgroundTroisi, J. D., & Wright, J. W. C. (2017) · Teaching of Psychology · doi:10.1177/0098628316679972 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“This is why social exclusion is associated with interpersonal coldness (Williams & Bargh, 2008), the experience of rejection actually makes one feel physically cold (Zhong & Leonardelli, 2008), and acetaminophen can alleviate feelings of rejection (DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundMonetary reward suppresses anterior insula activity during social pain
Cristofori, I., Harquel, S., Isnard, J., Mauguı̀ere, F., & Sirigu, A. (2015) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsv054 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“Recent studies have found that acetaminophen (Dewall et al., 2010), a common physical pain reliever, and secure attachment partners (Karremans et al.”
BackgroundExploring the Links Between Social Exclusion and Substance Use, Misuse, and Addiction
Wesselmann, E., & Parris, L. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.674743 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“First, researchers demonstrated that participants who ingested acetaminophen (compared to a placebo group) showed reduced reactivity to a social exclusionmanipulation (DeWall et al., 2010).”
BackgroundMartelli, A. M., Chester, D. S., Brown, K. W., Eisenberger, N. I., & DeWall, C. N. (2018) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsy037 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“This is an important topic because efforts to buffer exclusion-related distress have been largely unsuccessful, with the exception of pharmacological, psychotropic or brain stimulation interventions (DeWall et al., 2010; Molet et al., 2013; Riva et al., 2015).”
BackgroundSelf-citationBass, E. C., Stednitz, S. J., Simonson, K., Shen, T., & Gahtan, E. (2014) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470919.2014.929533 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“…is both stressful and painful to the individual (Blackhart et al., 2007; Eisenberger et al., 2003; MacDonald & Leary, 2005) and potentially damaging to others in a group (DeWall et al., 2010; Leary et al., 2003; Maner et al., 2007), further research on responses to social rejection is imperative.”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- DeWall, C. N., MacDonald, G., Webster, G. D., Masten, C. L., Baumeister, R. F., Powell, C., Combs, D., Schurtz, D. R., Stillman, T. F., Tice, D. M., & Eisenberger, N. I.
- Affiliations
- University of Kentucky (US)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- University of Florida (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Florida State University (US)
- Georgia College & State University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-06-14
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 931-937
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2114477072
- Cited by
- 486
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 51 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 27
- FWCI
- 35.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-65999)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- paracetamol, social pain, social rejection, bodily pain, analgesia, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, placebo, affective pain
- MeSH terms
- Acetaminophen, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Pain, Reference Values, Rejection, Psychology, Social Behavior, Social Desirability, Stress, Psychological, Students, Analgesics, Non-Narcotic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
