Stress and sympathy: what link?

By Cristiano Antonino On Nov 30, 2022

Stress and sympathy or empathy: according to a new study by scientists from Nottingham Trent University and the University of Portsmouth, showing signs of stress could make us more sympathetic and cause others to act more positively towards us

Stress and sympathy, introduction

Various authors (Selye, Seligman, Lazarus) have, over time, defined ‘Stress’ on the one hand as a set of internal and/or external pressures and on the other hand as the organism’s non-specific response to these events, i.e. the way we interpret, evaluate and deal with all the catastrophes that happen to us!

In any case, all scholars agree that stress is a natural part of life and as such is unavoidable!

Many individuals try to hide the discomfort they feel by withdrawing and interrupting social interactions, shunning all those activities that allow them to distract themselves such as physical activity and hobbies.

Others, on the other hand, manage to adapt more, continuing to eat and sleep regularly while also asking for help and social support for the difficulties they encounter.

Each of us has his or her own view of stress, the details of which may change constantly, but the general mechanism of which usually lasts over time and requires adaptation.

The study

The researchers, observing certain typical stress-related behaviours occurring in public such as nail-biting, shaking, touching one’s face and/or hair (also typical of animals) found that, in addition to being able to accurately identify when someone was stressed, people reacted in a more positive and supportive manner towards individuals who showed more signs of discomfort and difficulty.

The study involved two phases: in one, participants were videotaped while taking part in a mock interview that consisted of them giving a presentation that was communicated at the last.

In a second moment, the videos were presented to evaluators who were asked to quantify how high each presenter’s discomfort was.

Participants who reported feeling more stressed or were seen to be more distressed during the activity were perceived as more stressed by the evaluators.

Results of the study correlating stress with increased liking of others

The results suggest that people around us can accurately detect when we are experiencing difficult situations, already by observing our behaviour – something that surprisingly has yet to be proven with scientific evidence.

Participants who were identified as being more stressed during the activity were also perceived as more sympathetic by others, providing a clue as to why humans have evolved to show signs of stress and help.

Study on stress and sympathy, conclusions

Dr Jamie Whitehouse, researcher at NTU’s School of Social Sciences and head of the research, said: “We wanted to find out what benefits there might be in signalling stress to others, to help explain why stress behaviours have evolved in humans.”

“If the production of these behaviours leads to positive social interactions from others who want to help, rather than negative social interactions from those who want to compete with you, it is likely that these behaviours are selected for in the evolutionary process.

We are a highly cooperative species compared to many other animals, and this may be why behaviours that communicate weakness have been able to evolve’.

Co-author, Professor Bridget Waller, added: “If individuals are inducing an empathy-type response in evaluators, they might appear more sympathetic for this reason, or it could be that an honest signal of weakness might represent an example of benign intent and/or a willingness to engage in cooperative rather than competitive interaction, something that might be a ‘pleasing’ or preferred trait in a social part.

This fits with the current understanding of expressivity, which tends to suggest that people who are more “emotionally expressive “are more appreciated by others and have more positive social interactions.”

Reference:

Jamie Whitehouse, Sophie J. Milward, Matthew O. Parker, Eithne Kavanagh, Bridget M. Waller. Signal value of stress behaviour. Evolution and Human Behavior, 2022; DOI: 1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.04.001

Lazarus Richard S., and Susan Folkman. Stress, Appraisail, and Coping. New York: Springer, 1984

University of Portsmouth. “Humans may have evolved to show signs of stress to evoke support from others: Showing signs of stress could make us more likeable and prompt others to act more positively towards us.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 May 2022. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220515113229.htm>.

Selye H., (1956) The Stress of life. McGraw-Hill (Paperback), New York.

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