痛みの耐性に及ぼすユーモア映像刺激の効果に関する研究

概要

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In recent years, there have been claims that humor and laughter possess unique characteristics to help cope with pain. Psychologically, explanations include the positive emotions that result from humor as well as the distraction that it causes. This study examined the effects of a humorous video and its distracting ability on increasing pain tolerance. To this purpose, humor was contrasted with a repulsive stimulus and a neutral stimulus. Three groups ("humor group," "horror group," and "neutral group," with 12 participants in each) underwent a pain tolerance test using cold pressor stimulation. Each group was shown a humorous video, a horror video, or a neutral video, respectively. Results indicated that the humor group had the largest increase in pain tolerance compared to other groups. In addition, distraction was most effective for the humor group as well. These results suggest that humor is effective at increasing pain tolerance when participants perceive a humorous video as eliciting positive emotion and providing a distraction.