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Science: Impulsive People Tend to Be Selfish, Too

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Researchers from the University of Zurich have, unsurprisingly, affirmed that people who lack self-control also have trouble with empathy.

Newlyweds Valasia Limnioti, right, and Konstantinos Patronis walk in Midtown Manhattan, Thursday, July 2, 2015, in New York. The couple topped the dream trip of our lives in New York City, where their three-week honeymoon turned into a nightmare: Their Greek-issued credit cards were suddenly declined and they were left nearly penniless. Strangers from two Greek Orthodox churches in Queens came to their rescue, giving them survival cash until their flight home to Greece this Friday. - Sputnik International
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The study, published in Science Advances, found that the posterior temporo-parietal junction (pTPJ) portion of the human brain, which controls empathy, or the lack thereof, is also where impulse control is rooted.

"It's not that surprising when you consider you can see yourself as another person in the future," co-author Christian Ruff told Live Science, meaning that people who exercise self control are better at imagining their future selves, and are able to tailor their responses to situations.

For the study, researchers offered participants between $75 and $155, which they could keep, or $150 that they could split with loved ones or strangers.

“Researchers observed most people were willing to share with their nearest and dearest, but not so much with strangers. But when scientists zapped the pTPJ, effectively silencing it, and offered participants a small, variable sum now or a bigger, known payout in three to 18 months, they observed more stinginess with others and little patience with waiting,” Newser explained.

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The study may suggest new ways of looking at, and treating, addiction.

"The main implication of our finding is we shouldn't just focus on interventions that control our impulses, but we should perhaps think about interventions that actually foster our ability to take the perspective of others," Ruff said.

Ruff explained to Live Science that most current treatment models for addiction focus on helping people control their impulses, but he believes an important aspect may also be to make sure that a person is not socially isolated.

"If we were trying to really speculate wildly, you could say perhaps there is a bit of a vicious circle," Ruff said. "Once you actually start becoming addicted, you do focus a lot more on your own impulses and feelings and disengage from the social world. This disengagement from having the focus and perspective of others makes it harder to control yourself."

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