Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 27, 2025
09:00
Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm
Published on: October 3, 2020
4.0K
How expectancy violations facilitate learning to cope with pain - An experimental approach
Tobias Kube1, Karoline Körfer2, Jenny Riecke2
1Pain and Psychotherapy Research Lab, University of Koblenz-, Landau, Germany.
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
|April 7, 2022
Summary
People adjust pain expectations differently when pain decreases are expected versus unexpected. Confirming pain expectations led to lower perceived pain and greater expectation adjustment, while unexpected decreases showed longer-term benefits for pain coping.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Pain Research
Background:
- Pain expectations significantly influence the chronic pain experience.
- Understanding how individuals revise pain expectations after disconfirming experiences is clinically relevant.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how individuals adjust their pain expectations when experiencing decreasing pain, comparing expected versus unexpected scenarios.
- To examine the impact of expectation confirmation versus disconfirmation on pain perception and expectation adjustment.
Main Methods:
- A randomized between-subjects design was employed with participants experiencing painful thermal stimulations.
- Participants were assigned to either an expectation-confirmation group (decreasing pain was expected) or an expectation-disconfirmation group (decreasing pain was unexpected).
Main Results:
- Lower perceived pain intensity was reported in the expectation-confirmation group compared to the expectation-disconfirmation group.
- Greater adjustment of pain expectations occurred in the expectation-confirmation condition.
- Significant expectation violations, regardless of group, were linked to enhanced pain tolerance and coping abilities at one-week follow-up.
Conclusions:
- Perceived pain intensity is assimilated towards pre-existing pain expectations, indicating a confirmation bias in pain perception.
- While immediate adjustment may be hesitant after large discrepancies, unexpected pain experiences can yield beneficial long-term effects on pain coping.
- The study highlights the dynamic interplay between pain expectations and experiences in modulating pain perception and adaptation.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Purposive Learning
213
E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a...
213
01:14Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
1.9K
Avoidance learning and learned helplessness are critical concepts in understanding behavioral responses to negative stimuli.
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
1.9K
01:21Cognitive Learning
684
Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
684
01:25Analgesia and Pain Management
849
Pain is critical to various clinical pathologies, provoking an urgent need for effective management. Pain, whether acute or chronic, is a complex neurochemical process. Its alleviation depends on the type, with nonopioid analgesics effective for mild to moderate pain, such as musculoskeletal or inflammatory pain, while neuropathic pain responds best to anticonvulsants, tricyclic antidepressants, or serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. For severe acute or chronic pain, opioids may be...
849
01:20Pain
665
Pain serves as a critical warning signal that alerts the body to potential or actual harm. When mechanical pressure on the skin is intense, such as from a sharp pinch, the sensation transitions from touch to pain. Similarly, extreme temperatures, like a hot pot handle, convert the sensation of heat into pain. Pain can also result from overstimulation of other senses, such as blinding light, loud noise, or the intense heat from habañero peppers. This ability to sense pain is essential for...
665
02:07Blind Procedures
12.3K
Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which...
12.3K