Robinson Michael E, Gagnon Christine M, Riley Joseph L, Price Donald D
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, McKnight Brain Institute and Center for Pain Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610-0165, USA. merobin@@ufl.edu
J Pain. 2003 Jun;4(5):284-8. doi: 10.1016/s1526-5900(03)00559-5.
The literature demonstrating sex differences in pain is sizable. Most explanations for these differences have focused on biologic mechanisms, and only a few studies have examined social learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of gender-role stereotypes to sex differences in pain. This study used experimental manipulation of gender-role expectations for men and women. One hundred twenty students participated in the cold pressor task. Before the pain task, participants were given 1 of 3 instructional sets: no expectation, 30-second performance expectation, or a 90-second performance expectation. Pain ratings, threshold, and tolerance were recorded. Significant sex differences in the "no expectation" condition for pain tolerance (t = 2.32, df = 38, P <.05) and post-cold pressor pain ratings (t = 2.6, df = 37, P <.05) were found. Women had briefer tolerance times and higher post-cold pressor ratings than men. When given gender-specific tolerance expectations, men and women did not differ in their pain tolerance, pain threshold, or pain ratings. This is the first empirical study to show that manipulation of expectations alters sex differences in laboratory pain.
证明疼痛存在性别差异的文献数量可观。对这些差异的大多数解释都集中在生物学机制上，只有少数研究探讨了社会学习因素。本研究的目的是检验性别角色刻板印象对疼痛性别差异的影响。本研究对男性和女性的性别角色期望进行了实验性操控。120名学生参与了冷加压任务。在疼痛任务之前，参与者被给予三种指导语之一：无期望、30秒表现期望或90秒表现期望。记录疼痛评分、阈值和耐受性。发现在“无期望”条件下，疼痛耐受性（t = 2.32，自由度 = 38，P <.05）和冷加压后疼痛评分（t = 2.6，自由度 = 37，P <.05）存在显著的性别差异。女性的耐受时间比男性短，冷加压后的评分比男性高。当给予特定性别的耐受性期望时，男性和女性在疼痛耐受性、疼痛阈值或疼痛评分上没有差异。这是第一项实证研究，表明对期望的操控会改变实验室疼痛中的性别差异。
