• S Jeffrey Bailey, Lachlan A McWilliams, and Bruce D Dick.
• Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
• Rehabil Psychol. 2012 Feb 1;57(1):27-34.

ObjectiveEvaluations of another's pain can have important implications in medical, employment, and social settings. Influenced by the Social Communication Model of Pain, this vignette-based study investigated the potential influence of characteristics of the person being evaluated (viz., the coping strategy used by an individual with chronic pain depicted in a vignette) and characteristics of those making evaluations (viz., self-reported attachment anxiety and avoidance of the study participants). The main hypothesis was that participants higher in attachment avoidance would be more critical in their evaluations than those lower in attachment avoidance.MethodUndergraduate students (N = 267) read 1 of 2 vignettes about an individual experiencing chronic pain, provided ratings of this individual, and completed a measure of adult attachment. The vignettes varied in terms of the pain-related coping strategy (catastrophizing vs. distraction) described.ResultsSimilar to past research, the catastrophizing vignette received more negative ratings than the distraction vignette (e.g., greater disability level), and female participants provided more positive ratings than male participants (e.g., greater deservingness of support). While the attachment variables were unrelated to some dependent variables, consistent with the main hypothesis, attachment avoidance was associated with lower ratings of perceived deservingness of support and desirability as a friend.ConclusionsThe current findings suggest that chronic pain patients' coping styles influence evaluations made about them, and that evaluators' gender and attachment characteristics also have important effects on such evaluations.

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