WHY ARE SOCIAL EXPERIENCES ‘STICKY’?
Why does pain feel worse when it is caused intentionally as opposed to accidentally? Why do we preferentially experience nostalgia for our past social (relative to non-social) rewards? In this line of research, we examine why affective experiences generated by thinking about people--albeit intentions, social relationships, or self-concepts--are sustained and amplified relative to affect induced by non-social causes.
RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS:
Meyer, M. L., Williams, K. D., & Eisenberger, N. I. (2015). Why social pain can live on: Different neural mechanisms are associated with reliving social and physical pain. PLOS One, 10(6), e0128294. PDF.