Tylenol eases existential dread

In two recent studies making the rounds today, Tylenol is proving effective in easing the pain we associate more with emotional issues than physical aches. But it seems that acetaminophen works as well on the pain of existential crisis as it does a sprained ankle. And in an unexpected and bizarre twist, people who take acetaminophen are more likely to assert their values than people who take a placebo.

In the first study, participants were asked to consider their own mortality. Half of the subjects were asked to write an essay about what would happen to their body after they died, and half wrote an essay about tooth pain. (A similarly distressing yet strictly physical pain.) Then half of each group were given a Tylenol, and half were given a placebo.

The results were gauged by then giving participants an arrest report for a prostitute, and asking them to set bail. (Stay with me, here.) The idea is based on the "meaning maintenance model" which says that if you're comfortable, you're more lenient with other people's transgressions. But if you are feeling existentially distressed, you overcompensate by more aggressively asserting your own values.

Thus, someone who is angst-ridden will set a higher penalty for a criminal. Whereas someone who's feeling happy-go-lucky and fine will be more likely to let the crime slide with just a nominal fee.

People who had considered their own mortality AND taken Tylenol gave the prostitute easy bail. So did people who had contemplated dental pain, both those who took Tylenol and those who took a placebo. However, those who thought about death and took a placebo set a very high bail for the prostitute.

The same pattern was repeated when subjects were asked to watch a short David Lynch film versus a clip from The Simpsons.

Why, the new Tylenol ad campaign practically writes itself, doesn't it?!

Image courtesy Flickr/romkey