why do we vocalize pain.

[peoplesuck]

I have not done research on this, i was just wanting to see what everyone's opinions are.

My first guess was to scare away what ever is causing the pain but i don't think that would ever work.

when i say pain i mean like physical pain.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

Being social creatures in general, my guess is that its function is to call for help in an attempt to make the pain stop.

Also, groaning makes it feel better. Try it.

 

[peoplesuck]

ya mabey

 

[BigApplePi]

Being social creatures in general, my guess is that its function is to call for help in an attempt to make the pain stop.

Agreed.

Also, groaning makes it feel better. Try it.

The pain enters your consciousness. As long as you can't do anything much about it, it makes you want it to stop but you are powerless. Groaning brings a distraction into your brain competing with the pain thus lessening it.

Running as a sport is painful. Muscle pain and maybe lung pain. When I think hard on what my goal is or what I'm doing, I won't feel the pain. Some people can do self-hypnosis but I never learned that.

 

[Hawkeye]

There have been studies on vocalising pain. Apparently, when people scream out expletives when subjected to pain, they are able to endure it far longer than when not vocalising.


I also think there is a social aspect to it.

For example: guys getting smacked in the nads with a ball. There will be times when the twins aren't squashed/grazed (the worst scenario) and so the pain will be incredibly minor (if any); yet 9 men out of 10 will react as if their love spuds had just been obliterated.

 

[peoplesuck]

I'm reading these i may not reply to them all. Bigapple did you research that or just a guess?

 

[Cavallier]

For me personally vocalizing pain that is ongoing is partially helpful with stress relief. A groan or cursing helps me to focus a little. Then again, I don't make a lot of sounds with ongoing pain. I tend to stick with self comfort techniques like hugging my arms around myself, massaging my own neck and shoulders, rocking myself back and forth, and humming. Chronic toothaches since childhood is probably the source of that behavior.

With sudden unexpected pain I think I vocalize more out of terror than out of pain. Not unlike a yelp of surprise.

Edit: I agree with BAP as it applies to my own experience. Doing things that cause you to feel less helpless like visualizing something lessening the pain is helpful. Barring that making sounds help to distract from the pain. I focus on the groan itself instead of the pain.

However, this does not explain why unconscious people vocalize pain. I think that part must be social. Scream to bring aid.

 

[Ex-User (9062)]

and humming.

Have you considered taking the next step with singing?

 

[Redfire]

Running as a sport is painful. Muscle pain and maybe lung pain. When I think hard on what my goal is or what I'm doing, I won't feel the pain. Some people can do self-hypnosis but I never learned that.

But even if you ignore the pain, how can it not be bad for the body? Pain is usually not a good signal. I can swim for hours and not feel any kind of pain, while running makes my back and my lungs hurt like a bitch.

Sorry to derail though. If it means anything, I don't usually vocalize my pain.

 

[peoplesuck]

if you get stabbed you cant just not make noise, i am sure that apple was right when he said it takes the focus off the pain.

 

[Flawed_Ravvn]

I think the reason why we vocalize pain is out of shock and maybe to even try to get rid of pain. Going back to what The Habit Doctor said, I also agree that it could be a way to ask for help or to tell people that something is wrong. When someone gets hurt pretty bad, I think they vocalize it as a way to let go of the pain they feel, if that makes sense. You want a distraction from it and one way to do that is the scream. It's like screaming out of frustration, you do it to let your frustration out, its kind of like a coping technique in a way. So maybe vocalizing pain is a way to cope with the pain?

I do wrestling and that involves a lot of yelling and screaming, when you hear it, its either out of pain or a way to get more strength in a way. A lot of times when you do injure something in wrestling, you don't feel it till after the match is over. When I tore my Ac joint in my left shoulder, I didn't feel it till after the match was over.

 

[Words]

We do it because its the norm. We've been conditioned that way. Similarly, a person can be conditioned to not vocalize pain.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

We do it because its the norm. We've been conditioned that way. Similarly, a person can be conditioned to not vocalize pain.

How? Vocalization seems inborn. I mean... baby pops out, a quick smack, and it cries. More so, it should be evolutionarily beneficial in a "team species" like humans, and selected for.

 

[Words]

How? Vocalization seems inborn. I mean... baby pops out, a quick smack, and it cries. More so, it should be evolutionarily beneficial in a "team species" like humans, and selected for.

You're right. But I do think there is a nurture side to this. Different cultures express pain differently. "Ow" "Ah" "Oo" "Ee" "Ya" etc. I distinctly remember learning to express pain by observing others.

 

[Aerl]

Can't remember where I found it but...

Animals such as dogs, lions, wolfs or so bite each other when little as to learn what is the required amount of strength to cause pain and they get to know that when their sibling Vocalizes it, so basicaly it's an instinct which is used to let others know that you feel pain.

It does feel better when you get in trouble and you start shouting for help even if you get none. Is that similar in a sense as to relieve the stress?

 

[peoplesuck]

I agree that it is inborn. You cant be quite when you experience enough pain.

 

[Pizzabeak]

I met someone who had strange control over his nose.. When doing stimulus related things he would produce a bunch of mucus and boogers out his nose instead of using his voice

 

[sonofo]

I think it may have something to do with a need to react, when felling pain we know instinctively that something is not as it should be, and feel the need to react, this combined with the exhalation that is often associated with pain leads to vocalization.
There is of course the social aspect, communicating the pain to others in a hope that they react appropriately. Social conditioning is likely also responsible for the specific vocalization.
That's my gues atleast.

 

[Cherry Cola]

I have not done research on this, i was just wanting to see what everyone's opinions are.

My first guess was to scare away what ever is causing the pain but i don't think that would ever work.

when i say pain i mean like physical pain.

When you suffer pain some danger tends to be involved, whether it be a predator, fire, slippery ground, or something else alerting those around you to it increases their chance of survival. Most of the time those around you tend to be of your own species so they share most of your genes so their survival benefits the survival of most of your own genetic material. That and you may be in need of help to save your own genes.

Furthermore, vocalizing helps alleviate the pain, the pain is like a loud noise inside of you and so you want to get it out or at least keep it from bottling up. But those phenomenological reasons for vocalizing pain are an effect of the ones I mentioned before. You instinctively vocalize pain for the same reason as you instinctively put your penis into a vagina :P

 

[Variform]

I just think we do it because it fucking hurts.

 

[doncarlzone]

It's sort of like laughing at a movie, you do it less when you're alone. I've taught myself to laugh alone though.

 

[Redfire]

The other day I dropped my iPad right on my toe. I didn't make a sound. It hurt like hell though, for a long time. So no, most of the time I don't vocalize pain.

I also don't sneeze. When I feel like sneezing I just control it and stop it.

 

[Variform]

Don't deprive yourself of sneezing. I try to stop it too though.

Personally I hate hick ups. I found a way to get rid of it very easily. Just lean back or lie down, focus on your breathing, slow breathing, deliberate and relaxation of the torso. It is a muscle spasm of the...you know what. Just a little relaxation and its gone.

 

[Redfire]

Don't deprive yourself of sneezing. I try to stop it too though.

Why not?

 

[Variform]

Why not?

It can feel liberating and has a bodily function too. To expel foreign matter perhaps?