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sensation. Touching adjacent cold and pressure spots triggers a sense of wetness (which
you can experience by touching dry, cold metal). Activating receptors for cold and warmth
produces a hot sensation.
Touch sensations involve more than tactile stimulation, however. A self-administered
tickle produces less somatosensory cortex activation than does the same tickle from some-
thing or someone else ( Blakemore et al., 1998 ). Likewise, a leg caress evokes a different
somatosensory cortex response when a straight man believes it comes from an attractive
woman rather than a man ( Gazzola et al., 2012 ). Such responses reveal how quickly cogni-
tion influences our brain’s sensory response.

Pain
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Not for redistribution.
Photo by Jeff Riedel/Contour by Getty Images Be thankful for occasional pain. Pain is your body’s way of telling you something has gone
fect our
What biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences af
1.6-13

1.6-13 What biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences affect our

experience of pain? How do placebos and distraction help control pain?
experience of pain? How do placebos and distraction help control pain?

Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
wrong. By drawing your attention to a burn, a break, or a sprain, pain orders you to change your
behavior — “Stay off that ankle!” Pain also serves a psychological purpose, enhancing our self-
awareness, arousing others’ empathy, and promoting social connections ( Bastian et al., 2014 ).
“Pain is a gift.” So said a doctor The rare people born without the ability to feel pain are at risk of severe injury or even
studying Ashlyn Blocker, who has a
rare genetic mutation that prevents early death ( Habib et al., 2019 ). Without the discomfort that makes the rest of us shift posi-
her from feeling pain. At birth, she tion, their joints can fail from excess strain. Without the warnings of pain, infections can run
didn’t cry. As a child, she ran around wild and injuries can accumulate ( Neese, 1991 ).
for 2 days on a broken ankle. She
has put her hands on a hot machine More numerous are the people who live with chronic pain, which is rather like an
and burned the flesh off. And she has alarm that won’t shut off. Persistent backaches, arthritis, headaches, and cancer-related pain
reached into boiling water to retrieve a prompt two questions: What is pain? How might we control it?
dropped spoon. “Everyone in my class
asks me about it, and I say, ‘I can feel
pressure, but I can’t feel pain.’ Pain! Understanding Pain
I cannot feel it!” ( Heckert, 2012 .
)
Our experience of pain reflects both bottom-up sensations and top-down cognition. Pain is
a biopsychosocial phenomenon ( Hadjistavropoulos et al., 2011 ). As such, pain experiences
vary widely, both from group to group and from person to person. Viewing pain from many

perspectives can help us better understand how to cope with it and treat it ( Figure 1.6-22 ).

Figure 1.6-22 Biological influences: Psychological influences:
Biopsychosocial approach • activity in spinal cord’s large and small fibers • attention to pain
to pain • genetic differences in endorphin production • learning based on experience
• the brain’s interpretation of CNS activity • expectations
Our experience of pain is much
more than the neural messages
Barros & Barros/Getty Images Halfpoint/Shutterstock
sent to our brain.
Social-cultural influences:
• presence of others
• empathy for others’ pain
• cultural expectations Personal
r
Pe
al
son
experience
e
of pain
Robert Nickelsberg/ Getty Images

144 Unit 1 Biological Bases of Behavior

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