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The meaning of facial expressions of pain lies in their use, not in their reference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2003

Mark D. Sullivan
Mark D. Sullivan
Affiliation:
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 sullimar@u.washington.edu
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Abstract

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As a product of natural selection, pain behavior must serve an adaptive function for the species beyond the accurate portrayal of the pain experience. Pain behavior does not simply refer to the pain experience, but promotes survival of the species in various and complex ways. This means that there is no purely respondent or operant pain behavior found in nature.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , August 2002 , pp. 472 - 473
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press