After establishing baseline pain tolerance and intensity, ninety undergraduates, either low or high in private body consciousness, were distributed equally to cognitive distraction, sensation monitoring, or no treatment and then exposed to pressure stimulation. A 2 × 3 (private body consciousness × condition) MANOVA of residual tolerance and intensity data did not yield hypothesized interactions, but demonstrated that both coping strategies modified tolerance and intensity more than no treatment. Results are discussed in terms of adherence to and involvement in treatment, perceived effectiveness of coping strategies, and number of strategies used. The findings are integrated within attentional and parallel processing models of pain.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
McCaulK. D.MalottJ. M., Distraction and Coping with Pain, Psychological Bulletin, 95, pp. 516–533, 1984.
2.
ShiffrinR. M.SchneiderW., Controlled and Automatic Human Information Processing: II. Perceptual Learning, Automatic Attending, and a General Theory, Psychological Review, 84, pp. 127–190, 1977.
3.
LeventhalH.EverhartD., Emotion, Pain, and Physical Illness, in Emotions in Personality and Psychopathology, IzardC. E. (ed.), Plenum, New York, 1983.
4.
LeventhalE. A.LeventhalH.ShachamS.EasterlingD. V., Active Coping Reduces Reports of Pain from Childbirth, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, pp. 365–371, 1989.
5.
DevineD. P.SpanosN. P., Effectiveness of Maximally Different Cognitive Strategies and Expectancy in Attenuation of Reported Pain, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, pp. 672–678, 1990.
6.
DubreuilD. L.EndlerN. S.SpanosN. P., Distraction and Redefinition in the Reduction of Low and High Intensity Experimentally-induced Pain, Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 7, pp. 155–164, 1987–1988.
7.
EfranJ. S.ChorneyR. L.AscherL. M.LukensM. D., Coping Styles, Paradox, and the Cold Pressor Task, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12, pp. 91–103, 1989.
8.
HeynemanN. E.FremouwW. J.GanoD.KirklandF.HeidenL., Individual Differences and the Effectiveness of Different Coping Strategies for Pain, Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, pp. 63–77, 1990.
9.
HolmesJ. A.StevensonC. A. Z., Differential Effects of Avoidant and Attentional Coping Strategies on Adaptation to Chronic and Recent-onset Pain, Health Psychology, 9, pp. 577–584, 1990.
10.
StevensM. J., Interaction of Coping Style and Cognitive Strategies in the Management of Acute Pain, Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 11, pp. 225–232, 1991–1992.
11.
SulsJ.FletcherB., The Relative Efficacy of Avoidant and Nonavoidant Coping Strategies: A Meta-analysis, Health Psychology, 4, pp. 249–288, 1985.
12.
MillerL. C.MurphyR.BussA. H., Consciousness of Body: Private and Public, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, pp. 397–406, 1981.
13.
AhlesT. A.CassensH. L.StallingR. B., Private Body Consciousness, Anxiety, and the Perception of Pain, Behavior Research and Therapy, 18, pp. 215–222, 1987.
14.
RothS.CohenL. J., Approach, Avoidance, and Coping with Stress, American Psychologist, 41, pp. 813–819, 1986.
15.
ForgioneA. G.BarberT. X., A Strain Gauge Pain Stimulator, Psychophysiology, 8, pp. 102–106, 1971.
16.
KernsR. D.FinnP.HaythornthwaiteJ., Self-monitored Pain Intensity: Psychometric Properties and Clinical Utility, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 11, pp. 71–82, 1988.
17.
CrowneD. P.MarloweD., A New Scale of Social Desirability Independent of Psychopathology, Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, pp. 349–354, 1960.
18.
HeimbergR. G.NymanD.O'BrienG. T., Assessing Variations of the Thought-listing Technique: Effects of Instructions, Stimulus Intensity, Stimulus Modality, and Scoring Procedures, Cognitive Therapy and Research, 11, pp. 13–24, 1987.
19.
McCaulK. D.HaugtvedtC., Attention, Distraction, and Cold-pressor Pain, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, pp. 154–162, 1982.
20.
SpanosN. P.HodginsD. C.StamH. J.GwynnM., Suffering for Science: The Effects of Implicit Social Demands on Response to Experimentally Induced Pain, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, pp. 1162–1172, 1984.
21.
ArntzA.DreesenL.MerckelbachH., Attention, not Anxiety, Influences Pain, Behavior Research and Therapy, 29, pp. 41–50, 1991.
22.
MarinoJ.GwynnM. I.SpanosN. P., Cognitive Mediators in the Reduction of Pain: The Role of Expectancy, Strategy Use, and Self-presentation, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98, pp. 256–262, 1989.
23.
WilliamsS. L.KinneyP. J., Performance and Nonperformance Strategies for Coping with Acute Pain: The Role of Perceived Self-efficacy, Expected Outcomes, and Attention, Cognitive Therapy and Research, 15, pp. 1–19, 1991.
24.
WilliamsD. A.ThornB. E., Can Research Methodology Affect Treatment Outcome? A Comparison of Two Cold Pressor Test Paradigms, Cognitive Therapy and Research, 10, pp. 539–545, 1986.
