Relationship of Pain Tolerance with Human Aggression

Abstract

In research with animals as well as samples of chronic pain patients and elderly persons, pain has been positively correlated with measures of irritability, hostility, and aggression. The present investigation examined the relationship of pain tolerance with aggression. 72 men participated in the Response Choice Aggression Paradigm, described previously by Zeichner and colleagues, in which aggressive response to provocation was possible but not required of participants. Subjective pain tolerance, defined as maximal electrical shock willingly tolerated by participants, was assessed. Significant but small Pearson product-moment correlations between pain tolerance and aggression ranged between .21 and .32, with the largest accounting for 9% of variance.

The relationship between pain tolerance and trait aggression: effects of sex and gender role

“…Pain tolerance was significantly and positively related to trait aggression in men, but in women the relation between pain tolerance and trait aggression was nil and nonsignificant. These findings are consistent with earlier research on all-male samples [i.e., Niel et al, 2007;Seguin et al, 1996]. However, these results alone do not explain why pain tolerance in men would relate positively, rather than negatively, to aggressivity.…”

“…The discrepant nature of these findings may be explained, in part, by the fact that Seguin et al [1996] as well as Niel et al [2007] both utilized only male subjects in their study of pain tolerance. It has been well established that men are more aggressive than women.…”

“…Taken as a whole, research on gender roles suggests that men have been socialized to use aggression and tolerate pain as evidence of their masculinity [for a review see Bernardes et al, 2008;Richardson and Hammock, 2007]. As such, the degree to which men conform to masculine gender role norms may explain the positive relationship between pain tolerance and aggression reported by previous authors [i.e., Niel et al, 2007;Seguin et al, 1996]. Moreover, this would indicate that women would not demonstrate the same positive relationship between pain tolerance and aggression because they are socialized into feminine gender roles and do not conform to masculine roles as men do [Mahalik et al, 2003].…”

“…Earlier findings that pain elicits aggressive behavior [Berkowitz, 1993;Berkowitz and Embree, 1987;Lindsay and Anderson, 2000;Pihl et al, 1993] suggest that low tolerance for pain results in more aggression across time and situations and, conversely, that higher pain tolerance relates to diminished aggression. However, Niel et al [2007], as well as Seguin et al [1996], found that participants who demonstrate high pain tolerance are also highly aggressive. We tested whether such discrepant findings may be explained, in part, by sex and masculine gender role socialization.…”

“…In this study, pain tolerance was highest at both ends of the aggression spectrum. Niel et al [2007] assessed the relationship of pain tolerance with aggressive behavior in a sample of collegiate men. The authors found that men who evinced higher levels of pain tolerance engaged in more intense and frequent aggressive retaliation against an opponent than their low pain tolerance counterparts.…”