The Perception of Pain in Others: Variations in Pain Expectations as Function of the Ethnic and Gender Profile

Efficient communication of pain increases chances of survival. Among communication channels, facial expression remains the most effective way for humans to communicate their pain. However, pain expressions are often significantly underestimated. This bias is even worse if the person in pain comes from ethnic minority groups or is a woman. Our interpretations would then be affected not only by the characteristics of the expressions of pain, but also by our knowledge and biases about the characteristics of pain sufferers. The main objective of this study is to verify if the ethnic and gender profile of the person in pain impacts the observer’s expectations (mental representation). Understanding the content of these representations can inform what an individual might have learned from their real-world interactions. To do so we will use a data-driven method that allows the modeling of observers’ dynamic mental representations of facial expressions across different face ethnicity and gender profiles.

Faculty Supervisor:

Marie-France Marin

Student:

Partner:

University of Glasgow

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Université du Québec à Montréal

Program: