Pain scales as placebos: Can pain scales change reported pain across measurements? We propose that this repeated measurement can impact how people report their pain. In two studies, we find that the choice of measurement scale initially used to assess pain results in different levels of self-reported pain levels at a later assessment. These repeated scale measurement effects appear to be due, in part, to the initial scales differentially affecting participant expectations for the amount of additional pain they can bear. This work extends literature on scale effects to repeated measurement. Given that many subjective experiences besides pain are also measured repeatedly (e.g., fatigue and anxiety), our results also may have wider application to other domains of experience.
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