Nonetheless, this study is severely limited in that the sample was extremely small, and that I was a biased facilitator (ideally such a study should be conducted with at least three other experimenters who are unaware of the purpose and hypothesis of the study), as well as in the fact that it was conducted in limiting circumstances (the bathroom near a bathtub). Also to be considered is the fact that other confounding circumstances may have induced the resilient individual to have kept her hands in for longer. She may, for instance, be thicker-skinned than the others, or have some other physiological characteristic that may make her naturally more resilient to pain. Altogether, this experiment would have to be conducted in a far more scientific manner for authoritative and reliable results to be deduced.

Conclusion

The significance of the gate control theory lies in its implication that we can attenuate or block pain by using the mind, or mental abilities, to quell it. There are various approaches on the market as to particular cognitive methods that are allegedly most effective in quelling nociception. Some of them work, some of them do not. Hackett and Horan (1980) singled out the sensory-discriminative as being most effective in lowering pain tolerance but not pain threshold, and the motivational approach as inhibiting pain threshold but not tolerance. This study demonstrated reverse results. The study also demonstrated motivational interventions to have greater impact on relieving pain than sensory interventions. However, the limitations of the study necessitate that it be replicated for reliable conclusions to be deduced.

Since...

This is particularly so, since, mentally inhibiting that pain may potentially involve decrease in psycho-physiological associated symptoms (Gentle, 2001; Wall, 2000; Sternbach, 1978, 1986). The ramifications of this research study are, consequently, enormous and of interest to both laymen and medical practitioners alike.
Sources

Brewer, B.W, & Karoly, P. (1989). Effects of attentional focusing on pain and perception. Motivation and Emotion, 13, 193-203.

Gentle, M.J. (2001). Attentional shifts alter pain perception in the chicken. Consciousness, cognition and animal welfare, 10, S187-S194.

Hackett, G., & Horan, J.J. (1980). Stress inoculation for pain: What's really going on? Journal of Counseling Psychology

Melzack, R. (1993). Pain: Past, present, and future. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47, 615.

Melzack, R., & Wall, P. (1982). The challenge of pain. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers.

Ornstein, R., & Swencions, C. (Eds.). (1990). The healing brain: A scientific reader. New York: The Guilford Press.

Sternbach, R.A. (1968). Pain: a psychophysiological analysis. New York: Academic Press.

Sternbach, R.A. (1978). The psychology of pain. New York: Raven Press.

Wall, P. (2000). Pain: The science of suffering. New York: Columbia University Press.