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Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up With Depression (vice.com)

People with depression are more likely to feel bad in response to perceived inequality, according to a study published this week in Nature Human Behaviour. From a report: Simply, in experiments where participants were tasked with playing a game with a strong element of unfairness, those participants with higher levels of brain activity in depression-linked brain regions -- as recorded via fMRI scans -- were more likely to later demonstrate signs of clinical depression. This is a new test of an old idea, one that's been demonstrated in previous research. People with depression commonly demonstrate increased concern for others, or for the perspectives of others. More precisely, prosocial attitudes predict depression, which is in contrast to individualist attitudes. Individualist here basically just means selfish, or relatively selfish. The researchers behind the current study hypothesized that they would be able to observe these tendencies at the level of actual brain activity. Fortunately, there are some tried and true methods of testing prosocial behavior. One of these takes the form of what's known as an ultimatum game. The general idea is that participants are offered rewards that are to be shared among a group. Each offer differs in how much the participant gets in relation to the rest of the group, with prosocial participants more likely refuse larger personal rewards in favor of larger rewards going to everybody else. Individualists take the offer that best benefits them, while prosocial people are more concerned with other people in the group.

4 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. So true, especially here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I give and I give, lots of great comments, and then people say I'm an AC and worth less than nothing.

    1. Re:So true, especially here by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you really are an AC then do your job. It's still way too hot in here.

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  2. Re:Frontal lobe... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Until you realize that by eliminating those that are wasteful and hurtful to everyone else, you increase the general happiness of everyone and make it enjoyable for everyone.

    That works until you get sent to jail for killing too many CEOs.

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  3. Re:Feels Good Man by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2, Funny

    As for depression, people are depressed because chemicals in their brain tell them to be.

    Ok, but why are buttons depressed?

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