Women of good men

Scientists from University College London have shown that information about the experience of pain is in the brain near the person excitement pain centers, that is, literally - sympathy or compassion. As it turned out, the sympathy cause honest people. By dishonest sympathetic only women, men also at the sight of suffering fraudster excited neurons in the pleasure center.

Compassion, empathy, compassion - these qualities at all times, were considered positive. Most often, this list can be heard in the annex to this or that person of the female sex, you just do not call holy. And sometimes people - innovators senses - say that all of these qualities - the essence of women's whims, and recommend to the happiness rational egoism. Modern methods allow to study neurophysiology empathy more constructive and meaningful than before philosophers were doing with the help of speculative logic. Not only that neuroscientists have clearly shown how and in what parts of the brain there is compassion, but also found that the conscience - a necessary attribute of compassion.

Three years ago, scientists discovered that compassion - it's not a figure of speech, and quite literal. It is caused by a person's ability to experience real imaginary situations and sensations, such as those described his interlocutor. Despite the imaginary situation, the listener in the brain there is quite real excitement of the very neurons that are excited would happen to like himself. In the center there is the excitement of disgust in response to the story about unpleasant experiences comrade in the centers of tactile sensations - in response to information about tactile sensations, the same with the centers of a pain. So in terms of neurophysiology sympathy - it is adequate arousal neurons in response to the imaginary signal.

Tania Singer (Tania Singer) from University College London and her colleagues for the study of thin fabrics used the method of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Unlike conventional EEG, which records the reaction of relatively large areas of the brain, this advanced technique allows to monitor the excitation of neuron groups, and even individual neurons. MRI brain captures a portrait at the moment the response to a signal from the outside. London neuroscientists interested in the process of formation in the brain responses of pain empathy, as well as whether there is a reaction of empathy towards people with social and antisocial behavior. Criteria of social thought experiment ability to cooperate, corporate honesty. In fact, for the complex and meticulously precise wording of scientists is simple human question: Can a person has established himself as selfish and a swindler, rely on simple human sympathy?

In the first phase of the experiment, 32 subjects - half of them men, half women - formed the idea of ​​the integrity of the two "decoy ducks" (specially hired actors). Each subject was playing with two actors in the corporate economic game, in which one actor to play fair, so that points or money earned not only himself, but also his partner, and the other was cheating partners to enrich himself. As a result, after the game the subject of one actor considered a good fellow, and the second - inveterate egoist-cheater.

In the second phase the subject of experiments showed indirect signals that the honest and dishonest players experiencing pain. During the demonstration, test signals have filmed tomogram of the brain. As it turned out? Honest players sympathized all: both men and women. In other words, in response to an indirect signal to experience pain honest player in the pain centers in the subjects recorded specific painful excitement.

What about cheaters? Almost all of the subjects were women empathized dishonest players as well as honest. But the men - no. The signal of the experience of pain cheaters did not cause them any sympathy! Not only that, instead of pain centers in the majority of male subjects was excited by a special center "reward." Knowing that rogue player in pain, the man most experienced literally gloating or a legitimate feeling of revenge and justice. Women are rarely recorded gloating.

In these experiments, our intuitive understanding of the charity Women and men got revenge on clear evidence. In addition, it became clear why since ancient times the role of judges and executioners took the men: for the law - a set of rules of social behavior, offenders do not cause male judges no sympathy, and the enforcement of sentences excites their pleasure centers. The woman in this case can show compassion unauthorized.