Experimental pain thresholds influenced by sex of experimenter.
Thresholds for pressure pain were tested in 64 adult human subjects (age: M=22.0 yr., SD=7.5). The subjects were young adults drawn from a student population. They were divided into two groups of men and two groups of women, with 16 participants in each group. A female experimenter tested one group of men and a male experimenter tested the other group. The women were tested in a similar way by an experimenter of the same sex for one group and the opposite sex for the other group. The two experimenters were dressed in a manner that emphasised their gender roles. The men tested by a female experimenter showed a higher average pain threshold than the men tested by a male experimenter, but there was no difference in the average pain thresholds of the two groups of women.
Department of Psychology, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland. kjgl@stir.ac.uk
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013240:Stereotyping