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Why we’d rather be in pain than miss out on juicy information
- Scientists measured the ‘pain of not knowing’ by a painful device on the arm
We all love to hear secrets, especially when there are juicy details.
But scientists have found that many of us would even endure considerable physical pain to discover information we know to be fairly meaningless.
Their study found that for nearly half of the 40 participants, the “pain of not knowing” seems worse than having a very painful heated device placed on their arm.
Contestants were given the chance to win money by tossing an animated coin on a computer screen.
If they agreed to resist the device, they could find out how much money they would win if the coin turned red or blue. Conversely, they could choose to avoid the pain and not know it – but crucially would receive the same gain.
Scientists have found that many of us would even endure significant physical pain to find information we know to be fairly meaningless
The uncertainty seemed to bother people so much that they were willing to endure pain to destroy it, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The authors of the study, led by Professor Stefan Bode of the University of Melbourne, conclude: ‘We show that participants often accepted even high levels of pain in order to obtain this useless information.
“This suggests that the ‘pain of not knowing’ can sometimes be more aversive than actual physical pain.”
The researchers determined what a low, medium, and high amount of pain was for each person in the trial by placing the device on their arms and warming it up.
The likelihood of someone choosing to find out the information was smaller the greater the pain.
And participants were more likely to agree to pain if the average amount of money offered was higher, which seemed to raise the stakes.
Still, there was no point in choosing pain at any point, as everyone knew they were going to get their winnings up to £5 no matter what.
However, it is thought that choosing pain may have reduced feelings of insecurity and anxiety.
There is also evidence that people are hardwired to want to know the likely outcome of an event as soon as possible, even if they can’t change it.