This study examines the proposition that retrospective pain reports are based on the level of anxiety associated with the painful experience. Four groups of subjects were formed based on their self-reported state anxiety on the Anxiety Differential concerning the cold pressor task: a high anxiety group, a high anxiety group that received anxiety reduction immediately prior to the cold pressor task, an average anxiety group and a low anxiety group. An important component of the experiment was that all groups experienced less pain than what they had originally expected. The hypothesis predicted that recalled pain would be more closely related to expected pain than to experienced pain, except in the high anxiety treatment group where recalled pain would be more closely related to experienced pain than to expected pain. All pain reports were taken on Visual Analogue Scales. Results indicated that all groups accurately recalled the level of pain they reported experiencing during the cold pressor task. The reduction of anxiety in the high anxiety treatment group did not increase the accuracy of pain recall for the less than expected level of pain as was predicted. Hence, the results did not support the proposition that pain recall is based on the level of anxiety associated with the painful experience. However, all groups did recall more anxiety than they originally reported. The results suggest that accurate recall of the level of experienced pain may not decrease the anxiety associated with the painful experience. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-10, Section: B, page: 4565. / Major Professor: Jack May. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77873 |
| Contributors | Weber, Randy Leon., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 120 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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