Researchers continue to explore the emotional and physical repercussions of social rejection. In one study, participants exposed to rejection reported a significant reduction in hurt feelings after taking daily doses of acetaminophen, a painkiller used to reduce physical pain. What does this tell you about the body's response to social rejection?

-After a person is subjected to social rejection, an experience of physical pain amplifies the psychological hurt associated with the rejection.

-A person must also be experiencing physical pain for the negative feelings associated with social rejection to be alleviated by acetaminophen.

-The body's systems that respond to physical pain are also involved in responding to psychological pain.

-Social rejection leads the body to crave psychoactive drugs, leading to an increase in addiction.

This is from the video. >> Social relationships are one of the hallmarks of human behavior and one of the most powerful human motives is the need to belong. Social psychologist, Roy Baumeister, says humans are first and foremost, social creatures. >> We survive by virtue of our contacts and our connections with others and so we need to form connections, to be accepted into groups, to form relationships, and to stay with those. >> But what about social rejection? Researchers say rejection strikes at our very core. >> All we do is fight, and all we do is argue. It has to be done. It is over with. >> But just what happens to someone behaviorally, emotionally, and physically immediately after rejection? These undergraduate subjects who have never met before will help us to find out. >> Hi, I'm Nathan. For the first part of the experiment, what I'd like for you to do is to get to know each other a little bit, have a short conversation, talk about what classes you're taking, maybe what your major is, and I'll come back and get you for the next part of the experiment. >> While the subjects introduce themselves -- >> Hi, I'm Alexandria. >> I'm Mike. >> Brittany. >> Michael. >> They're unaware that two of them, Michael and Brittany, have been randomly preassigned to a rejection condition. The other two, Mike and Alexandria, were assigned to an acceptance condition. After the group members have gotten to know each other they're sent down the hall to separate rooms. Here, subjects list the members of the group with whom they'd like to continue working. >> Alright, so I'm just going to collect this, and I'll be right back. >> Then they receive this preplanned feedback. Mike hears acceptance. >> Alright, usually what I do is look at those sheets that everyone filled out saying who they wanted to work with, now this time what happened is that everyone chose you. So, that's great. >> Okay. >> I can't work out the groups as usual though so what I'm going to have you do is complete another task alone. >> But Brittany gets rejected. What happened this time is that no one chose you. So, because of that you'll be completing a different task alone. >> Next, this device will be used to measure the physical reaction to acceptance and rejection. >> Alright Mike, so for this part of the experiment what I'd like for you to do is to extend your right hand on the table, I'm going to exert pressure onto the skin, and what I'd like for you to do is just tell me when you feel you can no longer tolerate the pain by saying, "Stop." >> Okay. >> Okay. >> The results may surprise you. Recall that Mike was told that he was accepted by everyone. But his pain threshold is very low. >> Stop. >> And Alexandria, who was also accepted, has low pain tolerance too. >> Stop. >> But rejected Brittany tolerates almost twice the pressure. >> Stop. >> And there's also high pain tolerance in Michael, who was told earlier that he was picked by no one. >> Stop. >> The people who were told, "Nobody picked you," they are insensitive. They don't feel it. So, what this suggests is that the body responds to rejection, to a social event, the same way it responds to a physical trauma, like a football player in a game who breaks a bone and doesn't know it, doesn't even feel the pain until it's over, or a soldier in battle who has an injury, who gets shot, and keeps on functioning. >> And what about emotional reactions? Subjects are next asked to read a passage about a romantic rejection. >> Naia [phonetic spelling] wants to date other people. He says he still cares a lot about me, but he doesn't want to be tied down to just one person. >> Would Brittany feel empathy for this story character? 

>> Who cares? Life's tough. She'll get over it. >> And so they read about somebody else's problems and -- but they don't feel anything. So, they think, "It's not so bad," and they don't have empathy or sympathy for that other person. >> Mike however is quite empathic after reading about a young man rejected by his girlfriend. >> I feel really bad. I can totally relate. Same thing happened to me. >> So, what can we conclude about the early stages of rejection? >> The emotion and the pain reactions are intertwined. They're probably the same body systems, and that they go numb in response to such a basic threat as being told that all these people didn't like you. >> The emotional numbness to rejection is temporary and the pain will eventually set in. But from this research clinicians may learn how to best help people in the real world during the time immediately after a rejection.