To a part of the brain that registers pain, the distressful reaction from social rejection is just as great as from a poke in the eye
In an experiment at UCLA, researchers monitored the blood flow in the brains of people who had been led to believe that other players in a computer ball game were intentionally excluding them and refusing to let them play with the group.
The shock and distress of this rejection registered in the same part of the brain, called the anterior cingulate cortex, that also responds to physical pain.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/09....ap/index.html
