Citation

Abetkoff D, Karlsson T, Chiou WB. Scand. J. Psychol. 2015; 56(6): 622-625.

Affiliation

Institute of Education, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Scandinavian Psychological Associations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sjop.12249

PMID

26437721

Abstract

The energy drink market has grown exponentially since the debut of Red Bull. Advertising of energy drinks tends to reinforce an emphasis on masculine identification. However, no previous study has addressed the symbolic effect of energy drinks on pain tolerance, that is, a particular masculine characteristic. We conducted a priming-based experiment to show that energy drink primes elevated men's pain tolerance. Induced conformity to masculinity norms mediated the priming effect of energy drinks on pain tolerance. These findings suggest that mere reminders of masculinity-related products can lead men to behave accordingly in seemingly irrelevant domains (i.e., pain tolerance). Besides distraction and placebo treatment, the connection between a symbolic masculinity prime and greater tolerance of pain may shed lights on an alternative route for pain control.

Language: en