When someone steps on your toe by accident, you will hurt plenty.But it hurts even more, if you think the person does the same thing on purpose.Earlier studies have found that the feeling of pain can change with how it is experienced.That is why giving people sugar pills and saying they are medicine can make them feel better. This study examined whether self-reported pain is indeed higher when the events producing the pain are understood as intentionally caused by another person.For the study, the researchers told 40 volunteers that they were going to do a series of tasks, including color matching, number counting and discomfort assessment.This last task involved their receiving a brief electric shock to the wrist.They were told that a partner, sitting in another room, would choose which task they would do, and a computer screen helped them to know their partner's choice. In some cases, the volunteers were told their partner had chosen the pain tolerance test.In others, they were told the computers would select the pain tolerance test regardless of their partner's choice.When volunteers thought that their partners were making the shocks on them on purpose, the feeling made the pain worse.As a matter of fact, _ were the same. This study provides evidence that the experience of pain changes depending upon how they think when people have been harmed.Specifically, the meaning of a harm -- whether it was intended -- influences the amount of pain it causes.So, although a broken toe may hurt, an intentionally broken toe should hurt more. What can we infer from the text?
People can reduce pain by relaxing. Researchers study how pain is caused. Everyone should know the effect of pain. People should think more about pain.