Ethnicity and pain: A biocultural model

Zborowski's pioneering research in the 1950s noted ethnic differences in pain response. Subsequent clinical research has focused on ethnic variability in psychological, attitudinal and behavioral response but generally has ignored sociocultural influences on the perceptual component of pain. In light of Melzack and Wall's gate-control theory, it now appears that sociocultural factors may affect the psychophysiological processes of pain perception. This paper proposes that a biocultural model, which combines basic social learning and social comparison theories with certain aspects of the gate-control theory, will prove useful for studying and understanding cultural influences on human pain perception and response.