When I was about 3 years old, I was watching my Mom do her hair in the bathroom. I picked up a hair clip, noticed that it was the same size as the electrical outlet, and "plugged it in." Ouch!
as boys we would dare each other to stick our tongues to a 9V battery. when i ask my wife if SHE ever put her tongue to a 9V battery, she looks at me like i'm nuts. as she should.
We did something like that with the lit end of a cigarette. I recall daring how long one could hold it to another’s arm and how close. Alcohol was most definitely not influential or present 👀
My dad actually taught me this when I was little, and I grew up initially thinking it was the officially sanctioned method for testing batteries. My (male) partner looked at me like I’d grown three heads the first time he saw me do it!
I don’t think the conclusion that men would rather shock themselves than think is correct. I think they shock themselves to SAY they did it. Otherwise, they may appear or feel week. I hope I’d be in the minority but I’ve done plenty of stupid shit out of peer pressure/going along.
again, "not that bad" does not equal "not an injury." even if the choice was between pinching myself and doing nothing, why would i choose to pinch myself? why would i choose to cause myself pain, in any degree, injuring myself, to any degree, over doing... nothing?
i know what a shock feels like, you've never been zapped by static electricity before? if it's the same as that, no thanks. if it's worse than that, definitely no thanks. so what if there's no shock, why risk actually getting shocked? you're literally asked to just sit there & think & you can't?
I would argue that the body is designed to generate the sensation of pain in response to anything it perceives as an injury. Electrocution is absolutely an injury and the only reason students can be subjected to it in psych studies is that they're doing it to themselves.
Perceived as an injury and an actually being an injury are not the same thing. I’ve also been injured in ways that don’t hurt. I participate in an endurance sport and a key is learning to differentiate between something that just hurts (keep going) versus actually being hurt (stop).
I find electric shock to be an interesting and almost pleasurable sensation and I have friends who feel the same. That it's merely to distract from one's thoughts is a silly conclusion
Comments
Do you really think I’m going to go into the basement to get the meter to test a battery???
https://www.vox.com/culture/392971/men-reading-fiction-statistics-fact-checked?utm_source=The+19th&utm_campaign=15031461a0-19th-newsletters-daily-010325&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a35c3279be-15031461a0-383120762
I don’t like pain when I don’t know if it’ll end or is a sign of actual injury. Don’t mind it at all when I know it’s temporary.
Pain/discomfort can indicate injury but it doesn’t have to.
MEN: [immediately smashes hand with hammer]