By: Zia Gray
As we examine nonverbal communication, a common theme of interpretation of pain arises. Pain is often expressed nonverbally throughout the medical field. To further analyze pain expression, we question if pain expression differs according to gender? Edmund Keogh in Gender differences in the nonverbal communication of pain: A new direction for sex, gender, and pain research? analyzed how gender effects pain expression. To do this he examined historical pressure and how that effected gender communication. Historically, women typically maintained social relationships and men socialized with family. This made men more dominant and women submissive in interactions. This is said to shape how men and women communicate nonverbally. Men are more likely to show signs of aggression and women are more likely to show submissive signs such as crying. While historical pressure has an effect on nonverbal communication, so does societal pressure. Men are often told that they shouldn't cry, and that causes men to suppress emotional expression. Women are stereotyped by society to be emotional, meaning it is more acceptable for women to be emotionally expressive. You may be wondering, why does this matter in the healthcare setting? Many nonverbal cues transfer over into pain expression. The more clearly an individual can express pain, the easier a doctor can diagnose and help the patient feel better. If women are more likely to be emotionally expressive, they could be considered better patients. The next question to consider is: if you are in severe pain are you really going to care what others are thinking of you at that moment? Keogh states that facial expressions of pain are similar for men and women. When in pain, you do not consciously attempt to control facial reaction. What is interesting is that while men and women have similar facial expression, the way those expressions are decoded is different according to Keogh. Preconceived notions on how a certain gender should behave can effect how a doctor treats a patient. A doctor could assume one gender is overreacting and one gender is underreacting. Should doctors allow preconceptions to effect how they treat a patient? Does a physician even know when preconceptions are affecting their work? The issue is that currently there is minimal research into this topic. Keogh suggests that there should be further research into how physicians decode nonverbal expression depending on gender. Do you think gender affects nonverbal expression decoding? If so, what can we do to help remove gender stereotypes? Comment below with your ideas! Source ... Keogh, E. (2014). Gender differences in the nonverbal communication of pain: A new direction for sex, gender, and pain research? Pain, 155(10), 1927-1931. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2014.06.024
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