Exploring the Effects of Target Race, Gender, and Weight on Pain Perception

Healthcare equity is an essential right, and while the quality of care is assumed to be uniform, notable disparities in care are associated with factors of race, gender, and weight-particularly in the domain of pain evaluation and care. In experimental work, target race and gender have varying, and interacting effects on visual thresholds for perceiving painful expressions. Racial bias in pain perception is well established as participants see pain on black faces less readily than pain on white faces; gender also impacts pain treatment, where women are susceptible to having their pain discredited. Across two experiments, the influence of weight on pain perception and care interact with factors such as race and gender. Participants observed pain less readily in Black and light female target faces. Pain evaluation matches trends in pain treatment in the female condition, as participants recommended less pain treatment for black targets and lighter weight targets. In male targets, the effect of race on pain perception is observed in the lighter weight condition, but not in the heavier weight condition, possibly suggesting that weight is acting as a buffer against racial bias in male targets. Weight has differing effects in pain treatment in male targets, compared to female targets. Light weight white male target’s pain is treated to a higher degree than heavier weight male targets; whereas heavy weight black male target’s pain is more readily treated than light weight black male targets. Racial bias in pain perception is consistent across domains of gender and weight. Weight appears to have consistent effects in pain treatment in female targets across race, whereas weight had varying effects in the treatment of male targets across race.