Abstract:

Social pain refers to a special negative emotional reaction to perception that one is rejected by desired relationships or devalued by desired partners or groups. According to the existing findings, social pain may be induced by certain neural activities, such as individual experience of social exclusion, witness of others’ being excluded, that is to say, empathy. Moreover, social pain could be mitigated by attachment, self-esteem, and the like. Further researches are expected to investigate the neural mechanisms of social pain in different ages, and explore the relationship between social pain and personality disorder.

Key words: social pain, social exclusion, empathy, fMRI