Spanos N P, Hodgins D C, Stam H J, Gwynn M
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1984 May;46(5):1162-72. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.46.5.1162.
In two experiments subjects rated their pain during baseline trials of cold pressor and finger pressure pain. After various instructional treatments, they were posttested with these same stimuli. As in previous studies, we found in both experiments that coping suggestions significantly reduced reported pain. Experiment 1, however, demonstrated that subjects often refrained from using available cognitive coping strategies to reduce pain unless they had been given explicit permission to do so. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and also showed that explicit permission to "do whatever you can to reduce pain" was as effective as a coping suggestion in decreasing reported pain. These findings indicate that subjects' interpretation of what is appropriate responding in the test situation determines how they choose to cope with the painful stimulation. Thus standard experimental procedures for assessing baseline levels of pain implicitly lead subjects to refrain from coping and thereby tend to underestimate their ability to control pain. Moreover, suggestions and other instructional techniques for coping with pain may produce much of their effect not by teaching subjects new coping skills but instead by giving them permission to use already available coping strategies.
在两项实验中，受试者对冷加压和手指压力疼痛的基线试验期间的疼痛进行了评分。经过各种指导治疗后，他们用相同的刺激进行了后测。与之前的研究一样，我们在两项实验中都发现，应对建议显著降低了报告的疼痛。然而，实验1表明，除非得到明确许可，受试者通常会避免使用可用的认知应对策略来减轻疼痛。实验2重复了这一发现，还表明“尽你所能减轻疼痛”的明确许可在减轻报告的疼痛方面与应对建议同样有效。这些发现表明，受试者对测试情境中适当反应的理解决定了他们如何选择应对疼痛刺激。因此，评估疼痛基线水平的标准实验程序会含蓄地导致受试者避免应对，从而往往低估他们控制疼痛的能力。此外，应对疼痛的建议和其他指导技术可能产生的大部分效果不是通过教授受试者新的应对技能，而是通过给予他们使用已有应对策略的许可。
