Highlights
- •Social threat is associated with increased threat value of pain.
- •Social threat also increases aggression and reduces empathy toward others.
- •Social threat did not affect painful facial expression.
- •Social threat also did not affect pain intensity or unpleasantness ratings.
Abstract
Only one published study has investigated the effect of a threatening social context
on the perception and expression of pain, showing that social threat leads to increased
pain reports but reduced nonverbal pain expression. The current study aimed to replicate
and extend these findings to further explore the effects of a threatening social context.
Healthy, female participants (N = 71) received 10 electrocutaneous stimuli delivered
by a confederate. They were led to believe that the confederate was requested to administer
10 painful stimuli (control group) or that the confederate deliberately chose to deliver
10 painful stimuli when given the choice to deliver between 1 to 10 painful stimuli
(social threat group). Self-reported pain intensity, unpleasantness, threat value
of pain, and painful facial expression were assessed. Additionally, empathy and aggression
toward the confederate were investigated. Social threat did not affect painful facial
expression or self-reported pain intensity, but led to increased aggression toward
the confederate. Moreover, perceived social threat predicted the threat value of pain
and reduced empathy toward the confederate. We were not able to replicate the previously
reported dissociation between pain reports and pain expression as a result of social
threat. However, social threat was associated with an increased threat value of pain,
increased aggression, and reduced empathy.
Perspective
A threatening social context affects how threatening pain is perceived and has interpersonal
consequences such as increased aggression and reduced empathy, thereby creating a
double burden on the individual suffering from pain.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 21, 2017
Accepted:
November 6,
2017
Received in revised form:
October 30,
2017
Received:
September 14,
2017
Footnotes
This study was supported by the Odysseus Grant “The Psychology of Pain and Disability Research Program” funded by the Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium (FWO Vlaanderen) granted to Johan W.S. Vlaeyen. Johan W.S. Vlaeyen is also supported by the “Asthenes” long-term structural funding—Methusalem grant (METH/15/011) by the Flemish Government, Belgium. Ann Meulders is a postdoctoral researcher of the Research Foundation, Flanders, Belgium (FWO Vlaanderen; grant 2E3717). Kai Karos is a doctoral researcher supported by the Research Foundation, Flanders, Belgium (grant 1111015N).
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Supplementary data accompanying this article are available online at www.jpain.org and www.sciencedirect.com.
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© 2017 by the American Pain Society
