ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2021
Expectations about pain and analgesic treatment are shaped by medical providers' facial appearances: Evidence from five online clinical simulation experiments.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- From Nose Job to a Better Job: A Scoping Review of Facial Aesthetics, Attractiveness Bias, and Outcomes in the Workplace.Aesthetic surgery journal. Open forum · 2026Review
- Updating beliefs about pain following advice: Trustworthiness of social advice predicts pain expectations and experience.Cognition · 2024Article
- The Effect of Singular Nonverbal Behaviours of Experimenters on Pain Reports.Journal of pain research · 2024Article
- How Instructions, Learning, and Expectations Shape Pain and Neurobiological Responses.Annual review of neuroscience · 2023Review
- How Pain-Related Facial Expressions Are Evaluated in Relation to Gender, Race, and Emotion.Affective science · 2023Article
- Systematic manipulation of experimenters' non-verbal behaviors for the investigation of pain reports and placebo effects.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- A social affective neuroscience lens on placebo analgesia.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2021Review
- What Do Placebo and Nocebo Effects Have to Do With Health Equity? The Hidden Toll of Nocebo Effects on Racial and Ethnic Minority Patients in Clinical Care.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleThere is a robust link between patients' expectations and clinical outcomes, as evidenced by the placebo effect. Expectations depend in large part on the context surrounding treatment, including the patient-provider interaction. Prior work indicates that providers' behavior and characteristics, including warmth and competence, can shape patient outcomes. Yet humans rapidly form trait impressions of others before any in-person interaction. It is unknown whether these first impressions influence subsequent health care choices and expectations.
objectiveOur goal was to test whether trait impressions of hypothetical medical providers, based exclusively on facial images, influence the choice of medical providers and expectations about pain and analgesia following hypothetical painful medical procedures.
methodAcross five online experiments, participants (total N = 1108) viewed and made judgments about hypothetical healthcare providers. Experiments 1-4 included computer-generated faces that varied in features associated with competence, while experiment 5 included real faces. We measured how apparent competence affected expectations about pain and anticipated analgesic use in all studies. We also measured warmth and similarity.
resultsAcross five online studies, participants selected providers who appeared more competent, based on facial visual information alone. Further, providers' apparent competence predicted participants' expectations about post-procedural pain and medication use. Participants' perception of their similarity to providers also shaped expectations about pain and treatment outcomes.
conclusionsResults from our experimental simulations suggest that humans develop expectations about pain and health outcomes before even setting foot in the clinic, based exclusively on first impressions. These findings have strong implications for health care, as individuals increasingly rely on digital services to select healthcare providers and even receive treatment, a trend that is exacerbated as the world embraces telemedicine.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.