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Physical pain induces negative person perception
Author(s) -
He Wuming,
Guo Siyuan,
Jiang Jing,
Zhou Xinyue,
Gao DingGuo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/ajsp.12134
Subject(s) - psychology , perception , cold pressor test , pain perception , social perception , interpersonal communication , pain tolerance , social psychology , negative emotion , clinical psychology , threshold of pain , medicine , physical therapy , heart rate , neuroscience , blood pressure
We examined the hypothesis that pain increases negative person perception of irrelevant others in both medical and laboratory settings in three studies. Patients perceived a nurse as more negative if the injection they received from the nurse produced more pain (Pilot Study). Patients rated neutral faces as more negative after receiving an injection than before it (Study 1). Participants who performed a painful cold pressor task rated neutral faces as more negative than a control group, but this effect only appeared for those with low perceived social support (Study 2). These findings suggest that one's experience of physical pain may be metaphorically transferred to perceptions of completely irrelevant others, inducing negative interpersonal perception. And perceived social support can ameliorate the negative effect.