Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick.
Department of Psychology.
Rehabil Psychol. 2012 Feb;57(1):27-34. doi: 10.1037/a0026237. Epub 2011 Nov 21.
Evaluations of another's pain can have important implications in medical, employment, and social settings. Influenced by the Social Communication Model of Pain, this vignette-based study investigated the potential influence of characteristics of the person being evaluated (viz., the coping strategy used by an individual with chronic pain depicted in a vignette) and characteristics of those making evaluations (viz., self-reported attachment anxiety and avoidance of the study participants). The main hypothesis was that participants higher in attachment avoidance would be more critical in their evaluations than those lower in attachment avoidance.
Undergraduate students (N = 267) read 1 of 2 vignettes about an individual experiencing chronic pain, provided ratings of this individual, and completed a measure of adult attachment. The vignettes varied in terms of the pain-related coping strategy (catastrophizing vs. distraction) described.
Similar to past research, the catastrophizing vignette received more negative ratings than the distraction vignette (e.g., greater disability level), and female participants provided more positive ratings than male participants (e.g., greater deservingness of support). While the attachment variables were unrelated to some dependent variables, consistent with the main hypothesis, attachment avoidance was associated with lower ratings of perceived deservingness of support and desirability as a friend.
The current findings suggest that chronic pain patients' coping styles influence evaluations made about them, and that evaluators' gender and attachment characteristics also have important effects on such evaluations.
评估他人的疼痛在医学、就业和社会环境中具有重要意义。本基于情景的研究受疼痛社会交流模型的影响，调查了被评估者的特征（即情景中描述的慢性疼痛个体所使用的应对策略）和进行评估者的特征（即自我报告的依恋焦虑和回避）对评估的潜在影响。主要假设是，回避依恋程度较高的参与者会比回避依恋程度较低的参与者更挑剔地进行评估。
本研究招募了 267 名本科生，他们阅读了 2 个关于个体经历慢性疼痛的情景描述中的 1 个，并对该个体进行了评价，同时完成了成人依恋量表的测量。这两个情景在描述的与疼痛相关的应对策略（灾难化应对与分心应对）上存在差异。
与以往研究一致，灾难化应对的情景描述比分心应对的情景描述收到更负面的评价（例如，更大的残疾程度），女性参与者比男性参与者提供更积极的评价（例如，更大的获得支持的意愿）。虽然依恋变量与一些因变量无关，但与主要假设一致，回避依恋与感知获得支持的意愿和作为朋友的愿望的评分较低有关。
本研究结果表明，慢性疼痛患者的应对方式会影响对他们的评估，评估者的性别和依恋特征也对这种评估有重要影响。
