The DOI matches its Crossref record; 367 of the 367 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A biopsychosocial formulation of pain communication.
Open accessAbstract
We present a detailed framework for understanding the numerous and complicated interactions among psychological and social determinants of pain through examination of the process of pain communication. The focus is on an improved understanding of immediate dyadic transactions during painful events in the context of broader social phenomena. Fine-grain consideration of social transactions during pain leads to an appreciation of sociobehavioral events affecting both suffering persons as well as caregivers. Our examination considers knowledge from a variety of perspectives, including clinical health psychology, social and developmental processes, evolutionary psychology, communication studies, and behavioral neuroscience.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“According to the biosocial model[12; 13], validation has a soothing effect, reduces negative affect, and “takes the steam” out of interactions with high emotional arousal.[6]”
From Validating pain communication: current state of the science (2015) · cites this paper as [6]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine
Engel, G. L. (1977) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.847460 · Cited by 12,887
Mead, G. H., Joas, H., Huebner, D. R., & Morris, C. W. (2015) · University of Chicago Press eBooks · doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226112879.001.0001 · Cited by 12,419
Pain mechanisms: a new theory.
Melzack, R., & Wall, P. D. (1965) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.150.3699.971 · Cited by 11,108
(1994) · DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) · Cited by 10,542
The Pain Catastrophizing Scale: Development and validation.
Sullivan, M. J. L., Bishop, S. R., & Pivik, J. (1995) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037//1040-3590.7.4.524 · Cited by 8,227
Self-citationDESCARTES' ERROR: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
Marg, E. (1995) · Optometry and Vision Science · doi:10.1002/j.1538-9235.1995.tb03988.x · Cited by 8,178
The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Major properties and scoring methods
Melzack, R. (1975) · Pain · doi:10.1016/0304-3959(75)90044-5 · Cited by 6,873
The Adapted mind : evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture
Barkow, J. H., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992) · Cited by 5,222
Fear-avoidance and its consequences in chronic musculoskeletal pain: a state of the art.
Vlaeyen, J. W. S., & Linton, S. J. (2000) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(99)00242-0 · Cited by 4,931
Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases
Preston, S. D., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x02000018 · Cited by 4,126
Research works printed but not linked: 14
- Casey, K. L., & Bushnell, M. C. (2000). Pain imaging: Progress in pain research management (Vol. 18). Seattle: IASP Press.
- Chambers, C. T., Reid, G. J., Craig, K. D., McGrath, P. J., & Finlay, G. A. (1999). Agreement between child and parent reports of pain. Clinical Journal of Pain, 14, 336-342.
- Craig, K. D. (2006). Assessment of credibility. In R. F. Schmidt & W. D. Willis (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Pain (pp. 491-493). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
- Craig, K. D., Glibert, C. A., & Lilley, C. M. (2000). Cry as an indicator of pain in infants. In R. G. Barr, B. Hopkins & J. Green (Eds.), Crying as a signal, a sign, and a symptom. (pp. 23-40). London, UK: MacKeith Press.
- Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. (1978). Investigator's guide to the Facial Action Coding System. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
- Fordyce, W. E. (1976). Behavioural methods in chronic pain and illness. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
- Gibson, S. G., & Chambers, C. T. (2004). Pain over the life span: A developmental perspective. In T. Hadjistavropoulos & K. D. Craig (Eds.), Pain: Psychological Perspectives (pp. 113- 154). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Gibson, S. J. (2003). Pain and Aging: The pain experience over the adult life span. In J. O. Dostrovsky, D. B. Carr & M. Koltzenburg (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Pain (pp. 767-790). Seattle: IASP Press.
- Jackson, P. L., Voisin, J., Mercier, C., Canizales, D. L., Marcoux, L.-A., & Lauzon, P. O. (2007). Pain observation modulates the cerebral response to a vibrotactile stimulation. Paper presented at the Human Brain Mapping Organization Conference, Chicago, IL.
- McMahon, S., & Koltzenburg, M. (2005). Melzack and Wall's textbook of pain (5th ed.). Philidelphia: Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone.
- Melzack, R., & Wall, P. D. (1988). The challenge of pain (2nd Ed.). London, England: Penguin Books.
- Morrison, I., Lloyd, D., di Pellegrino, G., & Robets, N. (2004). How do we perceive the pain of others? A window into the processes involved in empathy. Neuroimage, 24, 771-779. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.09.006 · DOI · Paper page
- Rashiq, D., Schopflocher, D., Taenzer, P., & Jonsson, E. (Eds.). (2008). Chronic Pain: A Health Policy Perspective. Weinheim: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Todd, K., Samaria, N., & Hoffman, J. (1993). Ethnicity as a risk factor for inadequate emegency department analgesia. Journal of the American Medical Association, 269, 1537-1539.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 401–467 of 467
Evaluation of community neonatal services on high riskinfant survivors.
Langley, D. (1998) · Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) · Cited by 1
Thompson, C. M., & Pulido, M. D. (2022) · The International Encyclopedia of Health Communication · doi:10.1002/9781119678816.iehc0564 · Cited by 1
Social threat hurts! : the influence of social threat on pain
Peeters, P. A. M. (2013) · doi:10.26481/dis.20131018pp
Self-compassion, social functioning and chronic pain
Purdie, F. (2014) · White Rose eTheses Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)
Is compassion a part of the non-specific effects of acupuncture?
Lundeberg, T., Lund, I., & Näslund, J. (2012) · Acupuncture and Related Therapies · doi:10.1016/j.arthe.2012.12.003
Does empathy promote emotion regulation in the context of pain? An experimental investigation
Leong, L. E. M. (2013) · Human Biology
Pain and sensory function in neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis
Burkitt, C. C. (2013) · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota)
PAIN AMONG WOMEN: PROSPECTIVE POPULATION STUDIES FROM A BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE ON PAIN
Thomtén, J. (2012) · KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Development and Evaluation of a Pain Assessment Training Program for Long-Term Care Staff
Gagnon, M. M. (2012) · oURspace (University of Regina) · doi:10.82465/5284
Duck, S. W., & Starch, A. (2012)
Self-citationSocial Effects of Causal Opacity and Pain in Rituals
McCambridge, L. J. E. (2015) · Otago University Research Archive (University of Otago)
Birnie, K. A. (2015) · DalSpace (Dalhousie University)
Petter, M. (2014) · DalSpace (Dalhousie University)
Perception of pain in others : the impact of a label of major depressive disorder
Turcotte, K. (2013) · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · doi:10.14288/1.0074237
Hadjistavropoulos, T. (2012) · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1891/0889-8391.26.2.91
Self-citationNoel, M. E. (2012) · Library and Archives Canada (Government of Canada)
Online Psychoeducational Therapy for Chronic Pain
Nakoski, C. M. (2015) · The Scholars Repository - LLU (Loma Linda University)
Somatoforme Störungen: Verhaltensmedizinisches Störungsmodell, Diagnostik und Intervention
Noeker, M. (2012) · Zeitschrift für Medizinische Psychologie · doi:10.3233/zmp-2012-210012
Heptinstall, S. (2015) · The University of Bath Online Publications Store (The University of Bath)
Learning about healing in family medicine: Making doctors in an American medical residency program
Rohn, E. J. (2016) · Human Biology
Ginting, J. V. (2013) · QSpace (Queen's University Library)
Should Investigators Introspect on Their Own Pain Experiences as Study Co-Participants?
van Rysewyk, S., & von Baeyer, C. L. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-49022-9_11
Interactive process of facial communication of pain
Miriam Kunz, A., & Lautenbacher, S. (2017) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001022
Where We’ve Been, Where We’re at, Where Do We Go from Here?
Prkachin, K. M., Karos, K., Vervoort, T., & Trost, Z. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-78340-6_23
Self-citationFiorentino, A., Tischhauser, J., Roulin, M., & Ramelet, A. (2018) · Douleur et Analgésie · doi:10.3166/s11724-017-0538-8
Ammaturo, D. A. (2016) · oURspace (University of Regina) · doi:10.82465/4806
SDE-3: Krankheit entmystifizieren, akzeptieren und weniger relevant machen
Schmid, G. B. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-57674-8_4
Evaluation de la douleur chez les personnes cérébrolésées non-communicantes aux soins intensifs
Roulin, M. (2013) · IRIS
Pain Communication in Couples with Chronic Pain
Gagnon, M. M. (2016) · doi:10.82465/6154
“; and (5) is the communication of pain in couples where one partner is experiencing pain consistent with the processes proposed by the communications model of pain (T. Hadjistavropoulos et al., 2011)?”
InfluentialGenik, L. M. (2020) · The Atrium (University of Guelph)
Age Differences in Pain Responses
Shackleton, D. A. (2020) · doi:10.82465/7106
Launer, J. (2012) · Postgraduate Medical Journal · doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2012-131648
Alder, A. (2021) · Open Access Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka (Figshare) · doi:10.26686/wgtn.14245730.v1
McCulloch, R., & Collins, J. (2015) · doi:10.1093/med/9780199656097.003.0913
Alder, A. (2021) · Open Access Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka (Figshare) · doi:10.26686/wgtn.14245730
Pain's echo: Empathy and the social communication of pain.
Boswell, B. T. (2015) · doi:10.24124/2015/bpgub1063
Efeitos de estímulos verbais na dor
Sousa, P. T. A. (2022) · doi:10.11606/d.47.2022.tde-20062022-144358
The effect of social hierarchy on the evaluation of other people's pain
Loza, E., Hétu, S., & Rainville, P. (2022) · Journal of Interpersonal Relations Intergroup Relations and Identity · doi:10.33921/lkay7102
Self-citationDescribing the Challenges for School Nurses Managing Students With Chronic Pain
Wakefield, E. O., Sandhu, P., & Zempsky, W. T. (2023) · Topics in Pain Management · doi:10.1097/01.tpm.0000946460.70411.a0
Koebner, I. J., Peña, J. F., & Weisman, W. (2023) · doi:10.2196/preprints.52294
Facial expression is a distinctive behavioural marker of pain processing in the brainPreprint
Picard, M.-È., Miriam Kunz, A., Chen, J.-I., Coll, M., Vachon‐Presseau, É., Wager, T. D., & Rainville, P. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.87962.1
Self-citationThe Use and Perceptions of the Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale by Nursing Personnel
Dannecker, E. A., Darchuk, K. M., Shigaki, C. L., Palmer, W. M., Korte, P. T., & Turner, E. K. (2023) · Pain Management Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.pmn.2023.09.001 · Cited by 1
Ludwig, A. F., Hubner, F. P., Barros, M. I. G., Aragão, F. A., & de Carvalho, A. R. (2024) · Contribuciones a las Ciencias Sociales · doi:10.55905/revconv.17n.1-302
Third-Person Pain Experience Exploration Based on Multimodal Physiological Features Analysis
Xing, B., Shi, Y., Wang, K., Song, X., & Pan, Y. (2024) · Frontiers in artificial intelligence and applications · doi:10.3233/faia231432
The touch of science: the Petal trial
Guinsburg, R. (2024) · The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/s2352-4642(24)00001-4
Chronic Pain, Recuperation, and Care-Eliciting
Cantor, C. H., & Craig, K. D. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197544754.013.13
Self-citationA distributed brain response predicting the facial expression of acute nociceptive painPreprint
Picard, M.-È., Miriam Kunz, A., Chen, J.-I., Coll, M., Vachon‐Presseau, É., Wager, T. D., & Rainville, P. (2024) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.87962.2
Self-citationNeary, J. P., Singh, J., Alcorn, J., Laprairie, R. B., Dehghani, P., Mang, C. S., Björnson, B., Hadjistavropoulos, T., Bardutz, H. A., Bhagaloo, L., et al. (2024) · BMC Neurology · doi:10.1186/s12883-024-03847-1
“Complementing this self-report, we will use a validated Pain Behaviour Measurement system (PBM) [48] to capture non-verbal pain expressions during movement, where applicable [49].”
MethodSelf-citationAbrahamsson, P., Boersma, K., & Buhrman, M. (2024) · Scandinavian Journal of Pain · doi:10.1515/sjpain-2024-0039
Perspective Chapter: Cervical Contribution in Shoulder Pain
Roldán‐Ruiz, A., & Bertotti, G. (2025) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.1010070
Stress-Inspired Modulation of Robotic Deliberative Functions
Carminatti, L., Tanevska, A., Antunes, A., Tikhanoff, V., Sandini, G., & Rea, F. (2025) · International Journal of Social Robotics · doi:10.1007/s12369-025-01263-0
Merminod, G., Weber, O., Semlali, I., Terrier, A., Décosterd, I., Truchard, E. R., & Singy, P. (2022) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.19643474
The Effects of Human Attitudes on Farmed Animal Pain and Its Management
Duncan, J. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-11407-5_5
Parental Validation and Invalidation in Parent-Adolescent Discussion of Worry and Pain
Gagnon, M. M., Brilz, A. R., Cameron, C. R., & Baerg, K. (2026) · Canadian Journal of Pain · doi:10.1080/24740527.2026.2622315
“1 , 28 Despite the implications for chronic pain sufferers, these processes remain largely unexplored, and examining them may inform both dyadic experience and broader theoretical understanding of the biosocial theory’s application to pain.”
InfluentialPain Outweighs Negative Emotions in the Perception of Facial Configuration Sequences
Tessier, M.-H., Marcoux, A., & Jackson, P. L. (2026) · Journal of Nonverbal Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10919-026-00508-4
“They are key to studying nonverbal communication because they convey unique information about others’ states, such as pain and emotions (Hadjistavropoulos et al., 2011; Jack & Schyns, 2015; Prkachin & Solo - mon, 2009).”
Self-citationOn the contextuality of gender biases in pain care: theory and evidence
Bernardes, S. F., & Samulowitz, A. (2026) · Health Psychology Review · doi:10.1080/17437199.2026.2643504
Ikeda, M., Hoshino, H., Matsuishi, Y., Kotani, M., Kobayashi, S., Kido, T., Enomoto, Y., Shimojo, N., & Inoue, Y. (2026) · Children · doi:10.3390/children13060719
“Therefore, standardized behavioral observation tools are essential to minimize interrater variability and accurately assess pain in noncommunicative pediatric patients [4–6].”
Primary and Secondary Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Syndromes
Clinch, J., Lee, R. R., & Prescott, S. A. (2026) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-11980-4.00055-6
Significance of Suffering: A Neuroscience Perspective
Nesin, S. M., Porwal, S., & Chandrankunnel, M. (2025) · Mind and Matter · doi:10.53765/mm2025.71
Contrada, M., Morone, G., Calabrò, R. S., Scarfone, F., Pugliese, M. E., Francesco, M. D., Milasi, C., Bosco, D., Cortese, M. D., Lucca, L. F., et al. (2026) · European Journal of Pain · doi:10.1002/ejp.70332
“These domains are consistent with the biopsychosocial formulation of pain communication proposed by Hadjistavropoulos et al. (2011), which similarly emphasizes cognitive, affective-emotional and behavioural-communicative processes.”
Taccardi, D., Suárez, N. R. E., Shah, S., Daly-Cyr, J., LeBlanc, A., Ghasemlou, N., Cooper, L., Bosma, R., & Roy, R. (2026) · Canadian Journal of Pain · doi:10.1080/24740527.2026.2696249
Der wechselseitige Einfluss von Schmerz- und Emotionsverarbeitung
Reicherts, P., Gerdes, A. B. M., Pauli, P., & Wieser, M. J. (2014) · Der Schmerz · doi:10.1007/s00482-014-1481-8
Metadata
- Authors
- Hadjistavropoulos, T., Craig, K. D., Duck, S., Cano, A., Goubert, L., Jackson, P. L., Mogil, J. S., Rainville, P., Sullivan, M. J. L., Williams, A. C. D. C., Vervoort, T., & Fitzgerald, T. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Regina (CA)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Iowa (US)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Université Laval (CA)
- McGill University (CA)
- Université de Montréal (CA)
- University College London (GB)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2011-11
- Volume
- 137
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 910-939
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2161506337
- Cited by
- 466
- References
- 365
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 21.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- biblio.ugent.be
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Corpus Université Laval (Université Laval) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Medicine, History, and Philosophy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
- Keywords
- pain communication, biopsychosocial model, dyadic interaction, caregiver-patient interaction
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Animals, Brain, Child, Child, Preschool, Communication, Biological Evolution, Facial Expression, Female, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Models, Theoretical, Neurosciences, Pain, Pain Measurement, Social Behavior, Caregivers, Mice, Rats, Pain Perception, Chronic Pain
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review