Partners' empathy increases pain ratings: effects of perceived empathy and attachment style on pain report and display.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Pain can be influenced by its social context. We aimed to examine under controlled experimental conditions how empathy from a partner and personal attachment style affect pain report, tolerance, and facial expressions of pain. Fifty-four participants, divided into secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment style groups, underwent a cold pressor task with their partners present. We manipulated how much empathy the participants perceived that their partners had for them. We observed a significant main effect of perceived empathy on pain report, with greater pain reported in the high perceived empathy condition. No such effects were found for pain tolerance or facial display. We also found a significant interaction of empathy with attachment style group, with the avoidant gro

SUBMITTER: Hurter S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4162650 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature