Beyond conformity: Social influences on pain reports and physiology.

ABSTRACT: Social information can profoundly influence behavior, but its effects are often explained in terms of "conformity," implying effects on decision-making and communication rather than deeper sensory modulation. We examined whether information about other people's pain reports affected both participants' pain experience and skin conductance responses (SCR) during pain. Sixty volunteers experienced painful heat stimulation preceded by 2 kinds of informational cues: (a) nonreinforced social information indicating low or high pain ratings from previous participants; and (b) reinforced conditioned stimuli (CSlow, CShigh). Both high-pain social information and CShigh cues enhanced pain and SCRs relative to their respective controls, with particularly robust effects of social information. Effects o

SUBMITTER: Koban L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4718820 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature