Research proves that you can taser your friend and if your friend thinks you’re doing it with his best intentions in mind, it won’t hurt. Really. It says it right here. Fine, maybe I exaggerated just a tiny bit. In any case, I have a few questions about this study.
First of all, I’m no psychologist but wouldn’t common sense tell you that if you’re nice to someone and if they feel like you truly care about them, it will improve their overall mood and outlook? Likewise, if you feel crappy and are having a really awful day, every pain, whether physical or mental, will seem worse?
Next big question: who the heck thinks up these experiments? Is there a big room full of scientists and researchers saying, “How can we test the affect of a good mood on the perception of pain? I know! Let’s make people give their friends electric shocks!” Then all the other scientists in the room cheer because it seems like a great plan. I say whoever had the brilliant idea should be the first guinea pig.
A friend once told a story about what she considered an important part of how she taught her students. If she needed to critique a paper, she would always point out two good things about what they had written before getting to the part where she felt they could do better. I’m betting she never read any studies to figure out a person just might be more receptive to criticism if they don’t feel you think their entire paper is horrible.
That brings me back to my first point – common sense. Maybe all these brilliant people discount common sense and think unless you prove something in an experiment, it’s not real.
At the end of that article, they mention that a doctor’s bedside manner can affect how much pain a patient is in. That means Dr. House’s patients must be in a whole lot of pain!