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In pain thou shalt bring forth children: the peak-and-end rule in recall of labor pain.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Chajut, E; Caspi, A; Chen, R; Hod, M; Ariely, D
Published in: Psychological science
December 2014

Childbirth is usually the most painful event of a mother's life, and resonates in individual and collective memory for years. The current study examined the relationship between the experience of labor pain and its recollection 2 days and 2 months after delivery. We found that despite the exceptional physical and emotional experiences of childbirth, the memory of the pain involved in labor was biased toward the average of the peak pain and the end pain, whereas the duration of the delivery had a relatively negligible effect on the recollected intensity of pain. A comparison of mothers whose labor ended with or without epidural analgesia corroborated previous findings that the level of pain toward the end of an experience greatly influences the way the overall experience is remembered. Although both short- and long-term retention of memories of labor exhibited the peak-and-end effect, having given birth before weakened the effect 2 months after delivery.

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Published In

Psychological science

DOI

EISSN

1467-9280

ISSN

0956-7976

Publication Date

December 2014

Volume

25

Issue

12

Start / End Page

2266 / 2271

Related Subject Headings

  • Time Factors
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Pregnancy
  • Mothers
  • Mental Recall
  • Labor Pain
  • Judgment
  • Humans
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Female
 

Citation

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Chajut, E., Caspi, A., Chen, R., Hod, M., & Ariely, D. (2014). In pain thou shalt bring forth children: the peak-and-end rule in recall of labor pain. Psychological Science, 25(12), 2266–2271. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614551004
Chajut, Eran, Avner Caspi, Rony Chen, Moshe Hod, and Dan Ariely. “In pain thou shalt bring forth children: the peak-and-end rule in recall of labor pain.Psychological Science 25, no. 12 (December 2014): 2266–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614551004.
Chajut E, Caspi A, Chen R, Hod M, Ariely D. In pain thou shalt bring forth children: the peak-and-end rule in recall of labor pain. Psychological science. 2014 Dec;25(12):2266–71.
Chajut, Eran, et al. “In pain thou shalt bring forth children: the peak-and-end rule in recall of labor pain.Psychological Science, vol. 25, no. 12, Dec. 2014, pp. 2266–71. Epmc, doi:10.1177/0956797614551004.
Chajut E, Caspi A, Chen R, Hod M, Ariely D. In pain thou shalt bring forth children: the peak-and-end rule in recall of labor pain. Psychological science. 2014 Dec;25(12):2266–2271.
Journal cover image

Published In

Psychological science

DOI

EISSN

1467-9280

ISSN

0956-7976

Publication Date

December 2014

Volume

25

Issue

12

Start / End Page

2266 / 2271

Related Subject Headings

  • Time Factors
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Pregnancy
  • Mothers
  • Mental Recall
  • Labor Pain
  • Judgment
  • Humans
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Female