Abstract
This study seeks to examine the relationship between personality variables and pain perception ability. Specifically this thesis hypothesises that the Intuitive psychological type (rooted in Jung's theories of psychological type) will be effective at detecting faking of physical pain. Additionally, this thesis hypothesises that those scoring highly on Openness to Experience, as well as those rating as extraverts and those who rate high in emotional intelligence, will be more accurate at pain-faking detection than individuals who do not demonstrate these personality traits. It is also hypothesised that participants rating high in Machiavellianism will be accurate in detecting pain deception. In addition, it is speculated that a gender factor will exist in the ability to detect pain deception. In the first study, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992b) are used to measure participants' intuition level and openness to experience (as well as extraversion), respectively. In the second study, the Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2002) and the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) are used to measure emotional intelligence and various psychopathy-related traits (including Machiavellianism), respectively. The stimuli presented are videotapes of facial expressions of pain, in which individuals display either genuine or faked physical pain. The first study's findings support the hypotheses that Intuitive and Open individuals are accurate at pain judgment, with Intuitive and Open females in particular displaying relationships with accuracy. Additionally, males categorised as 'Thinker' types, as well as those low in neuroticism predicted accuracy in pain judgment. However, the hypothesis that extraverted individuals would be more accurate at detection was largely unsupported. In the second study, the hypotheses that overall emotional intelligence and overall psychopathy would predict accuracy were generally unsupported. It was discovered, however, that particular subscales of the emotional intelligence measure such as the 'Changes' task were predictors of accuracy in pain judgment. The Machiavellianism subscale of the psychopathy measure was indeed a predictor of accuracy for male participants. In addition, other subscales of the psychopathy measure that predicted accuracy included Blame Externalisation, which had an inverse relationship with accuracy, as well as 'Fearlessness' in female participants. The significance of the study findings are discussed in terms of application to the realm of deception detection, as well as its relevance to the medical field in particular.