Sharing pain strengthens team spirit.
Australian psychologists have conducted a series of experiments, the result of which boils down to the following: physical pain, while in itself an unpleasant and unwanted experience, can nevertheless serve as a “social glue”, strengthening bonds between people if they experience this pain together*.
The study was conducted by Brock Bastian of the University of New South Wales and his colleagues at the University of Queensland, and the results are published in the journal Psychological Science, published by the American Psychological Association.
In the first experiment, they divided participants – 54 students – into two groups, giving both groups a task that was the same in everything, except that for some the task was associated with painful sensations, while for others it was not. They were asked to put their hand into a bucket filled with water, collect metal balls at the bottom of this bucket and put them in a container, also at the bottom. For the experimental group, scalding ice-cold water was poured into the bucket, for the control group – at room temperature.
In another task, the participants in the experimental group had to squat on their legs bent at a right angle, resting their backs against the wall – in this position, a person quickly develops muscle pain due to a very large load. And for comparison, as a painless exercise, other students were offered to balance while standing on one leg, and it was possible to change the leg and hold on to the support.
Then they all answered questions about their well-being and what they think about the group in which they found themselves. In particular, they were asked to agree or disagree with statements such as “I feel like part of a team” or “I have loyalty to other members of my group.” It turned out that the pain or painlessness of the task did not affect the emotional mood, but the difference in the degree of solidarity within the group turned out to be significant: those who were hurt showed comradely feelings more clearly.
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But that’s not all. The next experiment found that pain not only reinforces the feeling of solidarity, but also promotes actual cooperation within the group.
At first, as in the first case, two groups performed painful (they even ate extremely spicy dishes!) or painless tasks, and then they were offered a number game. It was necessary to choose numbers from 1 to 7, and if the whole group chose sevens, then they would receive the highest reward of all, but if the participants named different numbers, then the personal benefit of those who preferred lower numbers would be higher. As you might guess, the survivors of the pain behaved much more cooperatively in this game.
In principle, there is nothing surprising in the result obtained, and it is easy to explain it from an evolutionary point of view: pain is a signal of danger; if all members of the group experience pain, then the threat is common, and it is better to resist it by uniting. Humanity has learned to use this effect for a long time, for example, in religious, military or, alas, totalitarian practices.
Although, of course, it would be better if it figured out how to achieve the same result without torture.
* B. Bastian et al. «Shared Pain Increases Cooperation», Psychological Science, июль 2014.