Weisenberg Matisyohu, Tepper Inbal, Schwarzwald Joseph
Bar-Ilan University, Department of Psychology, Ramat-Gan Israel.
Pain. 1995 Nov;63(2):207-212. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(95)00046-U.
Substantial research has demonstrated that cognitive psychological techniques including distraction can increase pain tolerance. In recent years, there also have been claims that humor and laughter possess unique characteristics for coping with pain and stress. Theoretically, explanations include the release of endorphins, the lowering of tension, as well as the distraction that results from humor. The question is whether humor is more effective than simple distraction. For this purpose humor was contrasted with a repulsive stimulus and a neutral stimulus controlled for interest level, that would also have distraction capabilities but not the unique aspects of humor. Pain tolerance was tested using cold pressor stimulation. Four groups (20 subjects in each) were tested. Three groups were shown a film: (1) a humorous film, (2) a repulsive film, (3) a neutral film. Group 4 was not shown any film. Results indicated that both the humor and repulsive groups showed a significant increase in pain tolerance as compared to the other groups. The repulsive group yielded the largest increase in pain tolerance although not different from the humor group. Except for sex differences, pain ratings did not show any group effects. Discussion focused on the type of distraction that would be meaningful for increasing pain tolerance and on the place of humor in pain control.
大量研究表明，包括分散注意力在内的认知心理技巧可以提高疼痛耐受性。近年来，也有人声称幽默和笑在应对疼痛和压力方面具有独特的特性。从理论上讲，其解释包括内啡肽的释放、紧张程度的降低以及幽默所带来的分散注意力的效果。问题在于幽默是否比单纯的分散注意力更有效。为此，将幽默与一种令人厌恶的刺激以及一种为控制兴趣水平而设置的中性刺激进行了对比，这种中性刺激也具有分散注意力的能力，但没有幽默的独特之处。使用冷加压刺激来测试疼痛耐受性。对四组（每组20名受试者）进行了测试。三组观看了一部电影：（1）一部幽默电影，（2）一部令人厌恶的电影，（3）一部中性电影。第四组未观看任何电影。结果表明，与其他组相比，幽默组和令人厌恶组的疼痛耐受性均显著提高。令人厌恶组的疼痛耐受性提高幅度最大，尽管与幽默组没有差异。除了性别差异外，疼痛评分未显示出任何组间效应。讨论集中在对提高疼痛耐受性有意义的分散注意力类型以及幽默在疼痛控制中的地位。
