Undergraduate Honors Thesis

 

Perception of Pain in Self and Others Public Deposited

https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/qn59q4474
Abstract
  • Prior research shows that people who are in neutral emotional states underestimate the impact of emotional arousal on their own and others’ behavior, an emotional empathy gap. I investigated empathy gaps in judgments of and behavior regarding painful experiences, for both oneself and another person. In two studies, participants completed a sample experience of a Cold Pressor Test (CPT), submerging their hand in ice-cold water for 0, 5, 30, or 90 seconds. Participants in Study 1 then predicted the pain they or others would feel during future CPTs of varying intervals (from 15-sec to 3-min) and indicated how much money they (or others) would have to be paid to complete each interval of a CPT. In study 2, participants made a series of behavioral decisions about completing a 2 minute CPT for $10. Study 1 provided evidence for both interpersonal (by comparing self and other ratings) and intrapersonal (by comparing 30-sec experience ratings and 0-sec experience ratings) empathy gaps in that participants rated a future CPT as more painful and requiring more compensation for themselves or when they had previously completed a 30-sec sample experience. In Study 2, participants who attempted a 90-second CPT sample experience were able to make more rational choices about a future CPT, demonstrating smaller intrapersonal empathy gaps after a highly salient pain experience. These results suggest that people experience emotional empathy gaps in predictions of pain and in their behavioral choices about a future painful experience.
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  • 2011-04-11
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  • 2019-12-02
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