“Hell No”: 50 Times This Online Group Made People’s Palms Sweat With Just Images

We often have a physical response to watching others in danger, even if we ourselves face absolutely no threat, and the subredditr/SweatyPalmsproves it.Created back in 2012, this online community now boasts 2.3 million members who constantly share footage of people’s stunts on tall skyscrapers, close encounters with wildlife, and everything in between.So, we invite you to join us in scrolling through some of the subreddit’s most popular posts and see which of them elicit a reaction from you. Let’s test our limits!This post may includeaffiliate links.

We often have a physical response to watching others in danger, even if we ourselves face absolutely no threat, and the subredditr/SweatyPalmsproves it.

Created back in 2012, this online community now boasts 2.3 million members who constantly share footage of people’s stunts on tall skyscrapers, close encounters with wildlife, and everything in between.

So, we invite you to join us in scrolling through some of the subreddit’s most popular posts and see which of them elicit a reaction from you. Let’s test our limits!

This post may includeaffiliate links.

We managed to get in touch with the moderators ofr/SweatyPalmsand they were kind enough to have a little chat with us about the subreddit.“We actually don’t have to do much policing,” the team toldBored Panda. “Like any sub on Reddit, we get spam and repost bots. We guard against those, but that’s mostly it.”

We managed to get in touch with the moderators ofr/SweatyPalmsand they were kind enough to have a little chat with us about the subreddit.

“We actually don’t have to do much policing,” the team toldBored Panda. “Like any sub on Reddit, we get spam and repost bots. We guard against those, but that’s mostly it.”

“The pics that garner the most attention on our sub are the ones that involve everyday people in pretty extreme situations. I think those are the ones that resonate with members the most because it really doesn’t take much imagination to see yourself in those (very) terrifying scenarios!” they added.

According to Nathalia Gjersoe, who is a senior lecturer in developmental psychology at the University of Bath, there are various reasons why our body responds like this in the absence of any real threat.

“Brain imaging studies have shown that there is a great deal of crossover in brain networks when we experience pain ourselves and when we observe others in pain. For example, people shown videos of patients being injected in the mouth showed activation in many of the same parts of the brain as if they themselves were being injected in the mouth.“So when we turn on footage of people cycling down incredibly steep precipices or dangling from precarious overhangs, part of our physical nervousness on their behalf is because we are imagining ourselves in their situation and how scared we would be.

“Brain imaging studies have shown that there is a great deal of crossover in brain networks when we experience pain ourselves and when we observe others in pain. For example, people shown videos of patients being injected in the mouth showed activation in many of the same parts of the brain as if they themselves were being injected in the mouth.”

So when we turn on footage of people cycling down incredibly steep precipices or dangling from precarious overhangs, part of our physical nervousness on their behalf is because we are imagining ourselves in their situation and how scared we would be.

Another contributing factor might be the fact that the sympathetic nervous system, which coordinates our fight or flight response, may not differentiate that much between real and not real.“Visual information that conveys a threat might be translated directly into feelings of anxiety or urgency, which in turn trigger responses such as muscle contractions or increased heart rate,” Gjersoe explains.

Another contributing factor might be the fact that the sympathetic nervous system, which coordinates our fight or flight response, may not differentiate that much between real and not real.

“Visual information that conveys a threat might be translated directly into feelings of anxiety or urgency, which in turn trigger responses such as muscle contractions or increased heart rate,” Gjersoe explains.

Tamar Gendler, a Yale University psychologist, has proposed that we have two cognitive states for reacting to events in the world.The first is our beliefs – those things that we believe to be true. We can say with considerable confidence that the protagonist of the movie will be okay in the end and that zombies will not subsequently break into our home and eat us.

Tamar Gendler, a Yale University psychologist, has proposed that we have two cognitive states for reacting to events in the world.

The first is our beliefs – those things that we believe to be true. We can say with considerable confidence that the protagonist of the movie will be okay in the end and that zombies will not subsequently break into our home and eat us.

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“Although our aliefs may differ from our beliefs, they trigger many of the same physical responses as a real threat such as trembling, sweating, and anxiety,” Gjersoe explains Gendler’s theory.“This is why I sit rigid on the edge of my seat while watching the climber dangling from the top of the skyscraper with no apparent support. I believe he will be fine and that this video signals no threat to myself, but I alieve that some threat is occurring and my sympathetic nervous system responds accordingly.“I guess we humans aren’t so different from one another, are we?

“Although our aliefs may differ from our beliefs, they trigger many of the same physical responses as a real threat such as trembling, sweating, and anxiety,” Gjersoe explains Gendler’s theory.

“This is why I sit rigid on the edge of my seat while watching the climber dangling from the top of the skyscraper with no apparent support. I believe he will be fine and that this video signals no threat to myself, but I alieve that some threat is occurring and my sympathetic nervous system responds accordingly.”

I guess we humans aren’t so different from one another, are we?

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