Insults are better taken lying down, claim scientists

Taking insults lying down may hurt your pride but it is less likely to make you angry, claim scientists



Research showed that those who took personal insults while upright exhibited brain activity linked to attacking but this urge disappeared when they took the same insults lying down.
Eddie Harmon-Jones, a cognitive scientist who led the study at Texas A&M University, said: "In the upright or leaning forward state one might be more likely to attack. "Maybe in the reclining state you're more likely to brood."

Those who took part in the study were not warned that they were participating in an anger exercise. The researchers asked them to pick something which made them cross, such as abortion or public smoking, and write a brief essay on their stance.
They were then hooked up to a machine which measures brain activity and told that a person in an adjacent room would evaluate the essay.
Then the students chosen for the study heard a voice recording of someone disparaging the intelligence, likeability and logical skills of the essays.
Volunteers who heard these insults while on their backs felt as angry as volunteers who were upright. However, measurements showed that in upright volunteers, a reaction in the brain that has been linked to anger and the likelihood of retaliating.
Those who received their insults while lying down, however, did not experience the same angry brain reaction.
The scientists now think that lying down could affect how the brain handles other emotions, such as desire and happiness.
Peter Bandettini, a brain imager at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, said: "It never occurred to me that body position might influence behavioural or neuronal activity in the context of aggression - but it makes sense.
"I do think that this is somewhat specialised to things like aggression or anger." (from telegraph)

So next time you are in a pub and someone insults you just lay down and you will feel better. Yeah Right :thud::

What a load of old tosh...lol

If someone insulted me ...the last thing i would be doing is laying down..

There probably would be someone on the floor but it wouldn't be me .. :fight2:

:fight2: Lie down and let them put the boot in - clever!!!! :fight2:

Well.... if you were too inebriated or too slow you would end up lying down anyway as the other fella thumped you!!!

What a load of old nonsense.....



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